City Council report for March 16, 2023
Last night the City Council voted to include two questions on the ballot for this upcoming election in November. The first is a question about repealing a 0.25% sales tax that has been in place since 2008. The tax was intended to fund a UTA FrontRunner station here in Brigham City.
The second question they approved for the ballot is about whether or not Brigham City should remove fluoride from the public water system.
City Administrator Derek Oyler explained that because both of these actions were originally instituted because the public voted for them, the only way to repeal them is through the ballot. Residents will see both questions when they go to vote in the general election on November 7.
There were also two power-related items on the agenda. First, Finance Director Tom Kotter shared with the Council that Brigham City was billed $1.3 million for wholesale power in January. This comes out to about $0.084/kWh, which is lower than the average of the previous six months (at $0.0905). Even though the rate moved in a better direction, the January bill added an additional $274,000 to the overage we've already accrued, bringing us to about $2.8 million more than what we had budgeted for power expenses to this point in the year. If you want to watch Mr. Kotter's presentation, click on the video linked below and start at 48:10.
The second power-related item is that the Council approved eliminating a $10 late fee for utility billing. When the Power Purchase Adjustment Clause (PPAC) was introduced, several residents encouraged City staff to look for ways to make the additional burden easier for residents. This is one of the ways they identified. Residents whose utilities are shut off will still need to pay a $50 reconnection fee, but the $10 late fee will no longer be charged.
Watch the video of last night's meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knt2fZZOcCw
*Please note that this is just a summary and doesn't contain all the details, and this isn't the official record of the meeting. Official meeting notes will be posted to https://www.bcutah.org/agendas-and-minutes.htm when they are available.   |