City Commission Answers Complaint About Increased Water Bills
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Robert Moore
Herald Staff
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The Harrodsburg City Commission fielded a complaint about water bills.
At their regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 9, the commissioners heard from resident Roy Holt, who asked about his water bill.
“I can’t understand how it keeps going up every two or three months,” Holt told the commission. He said he understood about property taxes but could not understand the fees on his water bill.
Chief Administrative Officer Stacey Maynard explained that part of the increase was due to the 911 fee. In October, the Mercer County Fiscal Court approved increasing the tap fee on residential and commercial water meters from $1.75 per month to $3.50 a month. The increase went into effect Nov. 1.
“It’s on every water meter,” Maynard said.
The tap fee was created to pay for 911 call services. In the past, they were paid for by a fee collected on landline phones. But the number of landlines has been declining for decades. While there is a fee collected on some—but not all—cell phones, the revenue collected does not cover the expense of operations. Back in 2019, both Harrodsburg and Burgin voted to institute a $40 parcel fee to pay for 911 call services, which subsequently failed to pass for lack of a motion at a special-called hearing of the fiscal court. That left the county to use carryover funds to pay for the federally mandated service.
“That does not pay for police or fire,” Maynard said Monday. “All that money is turned over to Bluegrass 911.”
Holt complained about the increase. “Is it going to go up $10 a month?” Holt asked.
“If our 911 expenses continue to go up, it will probably go up,” City Attorney Norrie Currens said. She noted Bluegrass 911 was not controlled by the city.
“911 is a separate entity,” Currens said.
The city commission voted in 2021 to abolish the city’s telecommunications department and consolidate 911 call services with Bluegrass 911, which is located in Garrard County.
“That took it away from our control,” said Mayor Bob Williams.
The city closed the 911 call center because of staffing issues and declining funding. According to a report compiled by the National Association of Counties, in 2015, 80 percent of 911 calls were made on cell phones, while cell phone users only paid 20–25 percent of total 911 fees. In Mercer County, cell phone owners pay 80 cents a month for 911 service, while landline users paid up to $4 a month. According to the report, those with prepaid phone plans—which make up the fastest-growing segment of the cell phone market—paid no 911 fees at all. While landline fees go directly to the counties to support 911 call services, the Commonwealth of Kentucky only passes along 70 percent of the fees collected on cell phones back to the counties, according to the National Association of Counties.
Holt said when he’d been injured in the past, he hadn’t used the 911 system. Williams likened it to paying school taxes even when the taxpayer has no children in the school system.
“It’s something everybody has to pay,” Williams said. “It’s all part of our civic duty.”
