Latest Headlines
- Five WaWa Stores In The Works For Escambia County. Here’s The List.
- Scattered Storms Likely Again Today
- Motorcyclist Critical After Jacks Branch Road Crash
- FDOT Plans Traffic Shift Thursday In Century Highway 29 Construction Zone
- Molino Man Charged With Throwing Object, Breaking Windshield Of Passing Car
- North Escambia Athletes Place In USA Volleyball Beach National Championships
- Santa Rosa Sheriff Issues Contractor Fraud Alert After Arrest
- Escambia Man Gets 10 Years On Firearms And Financial Racketeering Charges
- New Name, Same Fish: Largemouth Bass Are Now Florida Bass
- ECUA Considering Water, Sewer And Sanitation Rate Increases
ECUA Seeks Rate Increases, Pay Hikes
September 10, 2010
ECUA garbage, water and sewer customers will see higher bills in the coming months if the utility approves rate increases currently under consideration. And ECUA employees may receive across the board pay raises.
Emerald Coast Utility Authority customers in North Escambia only have garbage service. ECUA is proposing a three percent rate increase to take effect on October 1. That would increase the the bill by 54 cents per month from $17.99 to $18.53 for a customer with one standard 90-gallon container. Senior citizens would pay 45 cents more per month, from $15.08 to $15.53.
Significant increases for water and sewer customers would be in four stages, with a 10 percent increase on October 1, 2010, an a additional eight percent on October 1, 2011, another eight percent increase on October 1, 2012, and another eight percent increase on October, 2013.
The current average water and sewer bill would rise from $65.50 per month now to $70.36 in October.
The ECUA board voted 3-2 in favor of the rate increases, with Lois Benson and Dale Perkins against. Elvin McCorvey, Elizabeth Campbell and Larry Walker voted in favor of the rate hike.
ECUA’s new budget for 2010-2011 would also give pay raises to over 500 employees. There would be an across the board one percent pay hike, with an additional two percent merit pay increase for some employees. Benson and Perkins votes against the pay hikes, while McCorvey, Campbell and Walker voted in favor.
ECUA will hold a public hearing on the water, sewer and sanitation rate increases at 3 p.m. on September 23 at the ECUA board meeting room in the Ellyson Industrial Park, 9250 Hammon Street in Pensacola.
Comments
23 Responses to “ECUA Seeks Rate Increases, Pay Hikes”
I lived in a small town in Minnesota before that had a great way of dealing with the trash issue. There was NO trash bill. What they did was pick up recycling for free and the local stores sold particular bags for pickup by the local company and the company got paid from the bad sales. It encouraged recycling and the only fee you ever paid was for bags that you would buy anyway. Basically, if you aren’t producing alot of trash you aren’t spending much money on bags. The city ran the water so there was no other company to deal with other than our elected officials. Maybe we should consider this…Being able to talk to an official if there is a problem with water and sell special bags for trash pickup. It would be amazing for our areas recycling. Has anyone else noticed how many people here don’t even have the recycling can even though it is totally free? How much stuff that goes in that can would be reduced ALOT and most people would really only need the one pickup. If you didn’t know contact ECUA and request a FREE recycling can. It gets picked up on the same day as the regular trash. It takes paper, plastic, metal, glass, cardboard, etc… Take a hard look at your inside trash can before you throw it out and think about the percent of stuff you have in there that SHOULD be recycled. You don’t even have to sort the stuff, just put it in the can.
All you here anymore is you should use less, reduce your water usage, power etc. So now that people don’t use as much that should mean you save money. But now the utilities Co doesn’t dring in enough money anymore…so what does that mean, oh we have to charge you more for the very thing we want you to conserve. Its all a rip!
Increases come with all utility services. Having garbage pickup is much easier on the back. Trying to remember when the Oak Grove Land Field is open is a problem within itself. By the way ECUA’s garbage pick up is a good Christmas Gift for older parents and it gives 12 months a year.
REGARDING:
“I spoke with the County about ECUA and I was told that the County has no control over what ECUA does. ”
Just consider the fact that you elect your member of the ECUA. That means he answers to you, not to the County Commissioners. Same thing with Sherriff. Obviously they have to interact but those you elect answer mostly only to you.
David for separation of powers
and considered votes
I spoke with the County about ECUA and I was told that the County has no control over what ECUA does. I thought the County was the contractor and ECUA was a sub-contractor. well we know who isnt the BOSS..the County..and if that is so why do we need county leaders anymore..and speaking with the county leaders ,most of what I hear is State statues numbers so they cant do anything,so who need them anymore..
When Allied Waste had my route we were given two pickups per week. Now since ECUA ran them out of town, I get one pickup per week (sporadic times) and the priveledge of walking the neighbor hood picking up trash due to the inefficient design of their trucks for the same money. ECUA, if this is the best you can do while at the same time raising rates, please bring Allied back for us northenders.
The ECUA is the biggest liter bug in the county. Maybe they will figure out how to keep the trash in their trucks with this price increase. They like to blame the customer on the way they package their garbage. I say when it’s in the back of their truck it is their responsibility to keep it from being blown out on the roadways!!!!!!! If they were fined for letting garbage fly from their trucks, they would pass that cost to the customer as well.
The ECUA can do anything they want,they charge a .99cents on our garbage service(fee per county ord) and the county says they dont get anything from the trash service. but if you stop garbage service,they will still charge you for trash pick up.If you dont pay a lean will be placed on your property, for the fees..I think its time to take back our COUNTY from the people that cant run it.
It ticks me off to think about ECUA raising the rates by even 1cent. I have had service with them now for 6 months and out of those few short months they have missed picking up either my regular or recyclable 9 of those weeks. I have called and emailed every time and not one time have they offered to discount my bill. My recyclable sat in the same spot full for three weeks. Last week they sent a pick up truck with an empty can and took my full can because I showed out so bad. So somebody please tell me why our rates should go up. They wouldn’t have extra expenses if they did their job right the first time.
it seems no matter what happens the ones in control {higher ups] will end up with most of the money anyway. we are all under payed for the jobs we do and they are allways raiseing the cost of our ins./ they have plenty of money to waste on things that we dont really need instead of given the money to the employees.just a few things needed to get off my chest its not all but its a start
For all the whining and protest Larry Walker will be re elected by an incompetent electorate. Mark my word. How else do you explain the automatic re election of incumbents, locally as well as nationally.
We have met the enemy.
Well let’s see? I live from paycheck to paycheck now with not being able to save, just so the bills can get paid.
what do you purpose the consumers cut now to be able to afford your increase, FOOD? Most companies are not giving cost of living raises because of the economy. My company has even cut merit raise percentages because of the economy. So, ECUA, Your deciding to kick us a little harder huh.
REGARDING:
“ecua and gulf power, have the ONLY services you can get , sounds like a monopoly to me .Hey isn’t that illegal ?”
They are monopolies and they aren’t illegal. ECUA is a government entity–it’s us–and governments seldom outlaw themselves. Gulf Power is a regulated monopoly, They can only do what the government–again us–allows. Multiple power lines just seemed unreasonable.
Other legal monopolies include patents which give exclusive right to produce a new product for a number of years. The idea was to encourage people to do the work to find improvements and new medicines and inventions, secure in the knowledge they would benefit from their work. Another monopoly is copyright. It means a person owns what he or she produced as writing, music and maybe art. Computer codes come into it too. Those may last a lifetime, depending on the law.
Government also has a monopoly on use of the death sentence, printing money and a few other things. Only they get to do them.
That’s a 26% increase.
Preston Bryan, Jr.- that’s not communism
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=0yR&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&defl=en&q=define:communism&sa=X&ei=016KTLbNJMLflgeer6TzCQ&ved=0CBYQkAE
# a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership
# a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
There’s a town in Alabama that I know of in which the city owns the landfill and the city provides the water & sewage service and the city collects the garbage. The monthly bill runs about $35 a month for most folks depending on how much water you use, the garbage collection part of the bill is $7. They will pick up most anything you put at the curb except maybe not an old car. LOL appliances, leaves and other yard waste, just about anything. Garbage collection out in the rural areas is provided by a contractor and most people outside the city share a container and split the bill which runs about $16 a month, or $8 each.
# Communism is a social structure in which, theoretically, classes are abolished and property is commonly controlled, as well as a political philosophy and social movement that advocates and aims to create such a society.
The board of directors of ecua that voted on this increase includes a raise for themselves as well. I wish I had a job I could vote myself a raise. I say “NO” increase for board members period!!!! Mr Walker be ashamed, I thought you to be a upright citizen, now I have my doubts.
At least we don’t live in the City-they pay through the nose!
I have to say, my garbage guy deserves at least a 1% raise. My son forgot to put our can out this week and when I heard the truck in front of the house I looked out to see my trash guy dragging my can out himself! He had every right to drive on w/out my trash but he had actually noticed that my can was not out (that’s never happened before), he must have seen it was full and took the initiative to provide outstanding service! Thanks Tue. truck #175!!
When given a chance for the county government to turn the corner and finally head down the street, the folks in district 2 forgot to vote in the last election. Consequentially you gave that person 4 more years of the same thing we have all been opposed to for so long. Now, are we all so disgusted with county government that we just don’t care anymore? We need to reason with ourselves, how much longer will this be tolerated at at our local level. Public apathy will sure lead us all down a doomsday path that certainly will come to a dead end street.
3 p.m. public meeting on September 23rd… Isn’t that the time of day when most wage earners are earning a living. So much for open government access.
Was it not Larry Walker who was involved with all that mess at Code Enforcement?
Why does this guy’s name keep popping up?
Once again we are being held hostage by the petty tyrants who have held power in this county for so long. The same old names pop up time and again when you follow the money trail and the same old snatch and grab politics keep on being played out at every level. Watch the commissioners and other ” leaders” for a year or two,or for 50 years as I have,and you will see the same family names and the same level of corruption over and over again. The woods and waterways of Northern Escambia County are some of the most beautiful on earth but the political structure of this county is as corrupt as any middle eastern country you can name. God help the average citizen!
We definitly need a choice in whom we get our services from. ecua and gulf power, have the ONLY services you can get , sounds like a monopoly to me .Hey isn’t that illegal ?
Bend over because here it comes again! And for Larry Walker – have you lost your mind – almost a thrity percent increase in fees over the next three years? It was only matter of time before big brother ECUA would increase all of its fees once it got a choke hold on the entire county. And what about this “fuel surcharge” that continues to line ECUA’s pockets even though fuel prices have plummeted. But what is a customer do except to pay ECUA’s demand?
That’s right they cut our service to start with and now they want to raise the rates, Why can’t we have a choice of whom collects our trash like we use to. Sounds like communism to me when we don’t have a choice, I use to have pickup 2 days a week and now I have one and a rate increase.