Burgin City Council Talks Sewer Bills
File image.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
“I am about 30 seconds away from canceling the contract with the Mercer County Sanitation District,” said Burgin Mayor Joe Monroe at the Burgin City Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Monroe, a firefighter and former city councilman who assumed the mayor’s office at the beginning of 2023, and the staff at Burgin City Hall have been dealing with complaints since residents were hit with rate increases from both the sanitation district, which operates Burgin’s sewer, and Rumpke, which handles garbage disposal. The City of Burgin gets paid a percentage of total billing—five percent—to handle billing for the sanitation district, but they receive most of the complaints.
Some have suggested the city cancel the contract with the sanitation district and take over the sewer system.
“Here’s the problem,” Monroe said. If Burgin did that, bills could go up even more, he said. The city would not only have to hire staff to operate and maintain the sewer, they’d also assume the federal loan package—which originally totaled $9.2 million—used to build the system.
City Councilman Sindicat “Sid” Dunn has repeatedly asked the sanitation district to lower their rates. In 2021, the district reduced the minimum rates for users who use less than 2,000 gallons from $40 to $32 a month. That applied to all district customers, not just Burgin residents. However, a year later, the district increased the minimum bill—which is paid by the majority of users—from $32 to $37.60 per 2,000 gallons or less.
“We got the rate down,” Dunn said. “It went right back up.”
Noting the building boom in Burgin, Dunn questioned why the rate had not gone down. “The rate is supposed to go down when you add more service,” he said.
Monroe said the increase was due to rate increases by the other utilities the district contracts with, including the City of Harrodsburg.
“I can show you what they paid Danville, and I showed you what they paid Harrodsburg,” Monroe said.
The city has used federal funding to help alleviate the high utility bills, but they’re still receiving complaints.
“If I canceled the contract today and the citizens stopped paying it, I’d have to turn off their water,” Monroe said. “That’s a state law.”
City officials have attributed Burgin’s growth, in part, to the construction of the sewer, which took nearly a decade to go from initial planning to completion. Burgin and the sanitation district renewed their agreement in June 2022. They will next revisit the issue in June 2027.
“It’s a no-win situation,” Monroe said. “I’ve looked at everything.”
“I was under the impression they got a grant for it,” the mayor said. “They got a loan. The loan is what’s killing them.”
“That’s what’s killing us,” Monroe said.
