Gain vs. pain

EDITORIAL

Well, 2018, was certainly one of those years. It had some very high highs for the Rockdale area and it also had some very low lows.

After all, we began the year reeling from the loss of Luminant’s Sandow Power Plant and ended it reeling from the loss of our health care facilities.

In between, though, we got the fantastic news that a marvelous new economic generator is coming to the area with prospects for more positive surprises as we get further into 2019.

The new year is certainly going to be a target-rich environment as many factors ebb and flow. Nowhere is that more evident than in the challenges facing Rockdale residents as we prepare to finally get serious about our water problems.

During the first couple of months of 2019 the city council will be making some decisions on the future of Rockdale’s admittedly failing water system, much of it a century old, most of it a victim of many decades either kicking the can down the road, if you feel charitable, or outright neglect, if you don’t.

The city is mulling a $48-million project to virtually replace Rockdale’s water and sewer systems. It won’t came a shock to anyone to realize the city doesn’t have $48-million.

So where do we go from here? Of course the city is seeking grants, loans and trying to come up with options as it moves forward.

But that’s not going to foot the total bill. Where will the rest of the money come from? That’s not hard to answer. Us, of course, in the form of high water and sewer rates.

Much higher. Very preliminary numbers indicate doubling to tripling of the rate structure with major changes in that structure. One huge change being eyed is that the first 2,000 gallon minimum charge goes away and customers start paying for what they use the second they turn a tap.

Bottom line: It’s going to mean pain. Just how much pain is yet to be determined and it’s the city council’s call.

There are a series of town hall meetings scheduled to try and keep the public informed. One of the goals is so the new rates, in whatever form they take, won’t “sneak up” on water and sewer customers.

(They won’t sneak up on readers of The Reporter. This newspaper had seven front-page stories dealing with the water situation in 2018 and there’s another one this week to start off 2019.)

It’s a complex issue and there are complex approaches to it. But here, at the start, one fact needs to be emphasized. Even if nothing is done to our failing water system rates will still go up.

Sure, not as much as they will paying for $48-million in improvements. But the question each of us should ask ourselves is, do we really want to pay more for what we have now? —M.B.