Water rates in Sweet Springs were nudged up Tuesday, Jan. 22, when the Board of Aldermen approved an ordinance setting the new rate at $8 for the first 133 cubic feet and 6 cents for each cubic foot thereafter.

The previous rate per cubic foot was 5.7 cents.

Mayor Roxanne Hinton expressed some frustration at the need to keep raising the rate, noting that this was the third rate increase in the past year.

The water department budget remains in the red about $24,000, she said, in spite of the incremental increases.

"What it's costing the city to operate the system is more than we make on it," she said. "It's frustrating that we keep raising the rate and it doesn't make any difference."

One reason rates have increased is increased costs of water the city receives from Consolidated Water District. However, Hinton said the city's rate increases have more than accounted for the difference in cost.

Hinton said a rate study was done and it suggested the city should be making progress on the department's deficit.

"I wish I could say for sure (the new rate) was going to work," she said. "We haven't seen the results we expected in the past."

The city recently asked for an audit of the water department's books, hoping that might reveal information that would help officials resolve the deficit.

An attempt by Alderman Billie Clevenger to defer the vote on the new water rate until the auditor's report was available died for lack of second.

Alderman Lewis Bybee noted that waiting another month to vote on the ordinance would put the department even further behind.

"I don't like raising it any more than anybody else, but we can't catch up," said Alderman Derl Bernard. "We're between the devil and the deep blue sea."

The ordinance passed by a three-to-one margin, with Clevenger casting the dissenting vote.

Contact Eric Crump at marshalleditor@socket.net