Council grants city water users discount

After months of consideration, the Libby City Council voted this week to grant city water users a discount on their summer water bills.

Libby city water users will receive up to $30 off of the base rate of their water bill for three months – June, July and August – in the city’s attempt to relieve the expense of using metered water to irrigate lawns. 

The council discussed the possibility of extending the reduction for a fourth month, but will wait to see how the discount impacts available money over the summer.

The water rate reduction, passed on a 5-0 vote with Walt McElmurry absent, will cost the city roughly $90,000 and come out of December’s settlement with International Paper Co. The city received the $400,000 settlement because Libby’s groundwater has been unusable since the company’s predecessor released toxic creosote into the ground.

A city ordinance prohibits residents from using well water and, as a result, Libby’s water system endures a higher volume of use and residents must use metered water to irrigate their lawns.

In other news at Monday’s meeting:

• In a 5-0 vote, the council approved a letter of intent to increase the water base rate from $21.49 to $23.28 per month. The increase will not go into effect until after a public hearing May 18 at 6 p.m. If passed, the revenue will go toward repaying a $1.8 million bond to extend sewer service south of the water treatment plant to the golf course, known as the Cabinet Heights sewer project.

• The council voted on an intent to pass a resolution on the city’s skateboard ordinance. In about a month the resolution will be written into law to add Riverfront Park to the city’s areas that are off-limits to skateboarders.

• The council agreed on a Fred Brown Pavilion rental use agreement, which includes a $50 fee to reserve the pavilion and a $300 damage deposit. Organizations that use the pavilion to raise money, whether they are for profit or nonprofit, must also purchase event insurance.

• The council voted 5-0 to give preliminary approval to the Forest View II Subdivision.

• The council delivered a letter of support for the Montanore Mine to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Kootenai Forest Service.

• The council voted 5-0 to maintain the city union’s contract and re-open negotiations next year.