The Pineville utility rate increase has been drastically reduced, from the potential initial increase of 70 percent beginning October 1, to only 7 percent.

After more than a week of negotiations, the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority approved lower rate increases than they had required previously. The KIA will be funding a project to make upgrades to the sewer and reduce pollution. Roughly half of the money granted must be repaid and the utility must prove that funding is available to do so. On Tuesday, the city council approved the acceptance of the money.

“The citizens have a right to be very proud of local government, we would not be sitting here talking about a seven percent increase were it not for the mayor and the county judge …” said Bill Bunch manager of the Pineville utility commission and representative for the Kentucky Avenue project.

For more than a week the three have worked together to increase revenue to repay the KIA loan. Thanks to Bunch, an error was corrected that could have cost the utility nearly $500,000. He also worked to trim the budget and conferenced with Mayor Sherwin Rader and Bell County Judge Executive Albey Brock to negotiate with KIA. Brock also allowed $350,000 allocated to the county to pay for industrial park water and sewer improvements to be used to fund the OTB lift station and force main projects that the sewer had planned on funding.

In the original rate plan the entire burden of repayment for the loan fell to Pineville city sewer customers. KIA officials have now agreed to allow the combination of the sewer and water revenues to create a single, more financially stable budget. In the revised plan, a uniform increase of seven percent will be added annually to sewer and water customers for the next six years. This means an average increase of $1.72 to city water customers, $2.21 for county water users, and $1.19 for all sewer customers.

Members of the Pineville Utility Commission and City Council were happy to have succeeded in reducing the burden so significantly, though none are ever fond of increasing costs to the community.

“Its hard to increase anything,” explained Mayor Rader, “but at least with this we know that we’re going to be making it a better place to live. We’re going to have cleaner air and cleaner water and a better down-town area.”

Lorie Settles is a correspondent for The Daily News. She can be contacted by e-mail at editor@middlesborodailynews.com