Council refuses to raise rates

At Monday night’s meeting of the Moorcroft Council, the body was informed that their application for a grant to do the next phase of the Powder River Water Project will not be accepted until the town submits a different revenue source as a match. At this time, that “different” source would include a water rate hike to town residents.

According to HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville, “You were denied once based on your inability to repay the loan so in order to [be considered for] a loan application again, they are going to need a different form of repayment.”

The sixth cent sales tax, or SPOT tax, has historically paid for much of the loans for both infrastructure and recreation, but with said tax complete and no more being apportioned unless approved at November’s elections, Moorcroft cannot upgrade water or sewer lines without this alternate revenue source.

Mayor Dick Claar and Councilman Ben Glenn verbally opposed the idea of asking citizens to pay yet more for municipal water. The mayor opined, “At this point in time, I’m really not willing to ask for a rate increase on the water to go for this.”

Glenn concurred, but with a question to Turbiville about the ramifications: “If we skip [the next application] and not keep it in front of them, letting them know we want to still move forward with the project, [what will that do]?”

Keeping Moorcroft’s infrastructural needs in front of SLIB was the impetus driving the council to apply for this grant though they were well aware that, at this time, the town is unable to repay the SRF loan needed to match said grant. This advice from Turbiville has consistently helped the town get funding for much needed work in the past: SLIB is persuaded of the applicant’s need by their repeated efforts.

To mitigate any misunderstanding by a lack of another application right away, Turbiville suggested the town write a letter informing the board of the situation and that Moorcroft will reapply for the June 2021 meeting of SLIB.

“Let them know the reasons why you’re not applying [right now] – you don’t have the ability to match the grant with the loan,” he suggested. He agreed to assist with the verbiage.

The mayor stated that if the sixth cent sales tax is approved in November, “We’ve committed to paying off some debt which may help in that area.”