Abbeville Council votes to keep sewer rate lower than water rate in ‘14

Those tied to Abbeville’s water and sewer systems have long paid the same for both services.
That will not be the case in 2014.
The Abbeville City Council voted 5-0 last Tuesday at its regular meeting to suspend the sewer rate increase for the coming year. Councilman-at-Large Francis Plaisance helped push for the measure.
“I started that months ago because people were not happy that the water and sewer rates were the same,” Plaisance said. “They felt like the sewer rates should be less. I got a lot of comments on that.”
Rates for water will be $9.85 for the first 2,000 gallons and $3.22 per every 1,000 gallons thereafter. In that past the sewer rates would match those numbers. This year, sewer rates will be a minimum charge of $9.56 for 2,000 gallons and $3.13 per 1,000 gallons of water used.
“There was a lot of concern over paying the same amount,” Plaisance said. “Now it is not going to be same.
“We felt like we could reduce the sewage a little bit for them.”
Tuesday’s move the by Council comes days after the city’s new electrical contract went into effect at midnight on Jan. 1. That new contract will save the city’s electrical customers per kilowatt hour. Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said it is that new contract that allows for the lower sewer rate.
“We are able to afford this in our budget,” Piazza said. “It will not affect us one way or another and the new contract allowed us to do this.”
Plaisance said he is thankful that the Mayor and Council were on board with the move for a lower sewer rate.
“Councilman (Louis Joe) Hardy was on board from the very outset when I spoke to him,” Plaisance said. “Then Councilman (Wayne) Landry was in full support of it and Councilman (Francis) Touchet and Councilman (Brady) Broussard also agreed to support it. I also had several conversations with the Mayor. It was important to have everyone on board for this.
“We felt the time was right that this to be successful.”
Piazza said that he was in favor of the move.
“Most customers don’t realize that costs incurred by the city to operate a sewer plant far exceed those of a water plant,” Piazza said Thursday. “However, to satisfy the public, the council and myself agreed with the two Councilman (Plaisance and Hardy) to lower sewer rates compared to water.”
Piazza said during discussion Tuesday prior to the vote that customers seeing savings is a good thing.
“This is going to go a long way in savings for the customer,” Piazza said.
Plaisance agreed.
“That’s they way I have felt about it,” Plaisance said Friday morning. “Anything we can pass on to our constituents is a good thing. To be able to do the electrical adjustment and sewer adjustment around the same time, I think that is a wonderful thing.
“I feel real, real good about it.”
The Council also voted 5-0 Tuesday to award a bid of $647,624 to Coastal Bridge Company to overlay several streets in District C and District D, as well as some in District A. The city awarded the bid as part of receiving the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG). The city received the maximum of $600,000 form the grant, which is awarded every two years. The city put in its budget to cover the remainder of the project.
Coastal Bridge Company is expected to begin the overlay project in the coming weeks, as soon as all the grant paper work is finalized. The company is already in the area doing work for the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.
“I’m excited to have awarded the bid,” said Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., whose District C will see much of the work. “Our citizens in those districts have been waiting for that.”