Dunkirk utility fee is passed

DUNKIRK — A new monthly utility fee is intended to help pay for flooding mitigation and stormwater upgrades in the city.

Dunkirk City Council approved an ordinance on first reading Monday to establish a $10 monthly stormwater utility fee.

It will be up for approval on second reading at council’s next meeting.

The utility fee, which was given the green light at council’s Feb. 22 meeting, will be charged for each parcel of land in the city limits. It will be assessed on property tax bills, with residents and landowners paying $60 twice a year.

While the fees collected during the first two years will go toward setting up the utility and to the regular stormwater operating costs, they will eventually start to accumulate in a non-reverting fund.

That fund will be used to pay for upgrades to the city’s stormwater utility system, which should help mitigate flooding. The city’s utility plan includes an estimated $2 million in needed improvements, including replacing storm sewers, improving the retention pond and updating the GPS and GIS databases.

Council president Jesse Bivens noted while the city has tried to prevent flooding with various projects, only infrastructure upgrades will solve the problem.

“The broken stuff is still broken,” Bivens said. “We need to stop the reoccurring things by fixing them.”

Council member Bryan Jessup said even though he’s reluctant to institute new fees, he supported the stormwater utility fee as a necessary step for the city.

“Ever since I’ve been on this council we’ve had people in here again and again and again with flooding problems and damage to their homes, damage to their property, and we don’t have the money to do anything about it,” Jessup said.

“This is one of those things where it’s not something that you really want to do — I don’t want to impose any fees — but it’s something I think that has to be done.”

While the money collected from the new utility fee will not be enough to fund all of the necessary improvements, the city will have funds available to seek matching grants for the work.

In other business, council members Tom Johnson, Lisa Street, Kevin Hamilton, Bivens and Jessup:

•Gave approval for the volunteer fire department to host a boot drive on March 19.

•Appointed Eva Kreps, Lisa Charles and Nathan Brown to the West Jay Community Center board of directors.

•Heard Dunkirk Park Board has decided to keep the basketball courts open until 3 a.m. to allow play at night. The rest of the park closes at 10 p.m. The board will also now allow alcohol to be served in the park with a permit and the approval of council and the board.

•Declared that several funds were dormant, resulting in $3,178.24 returning to the general fund. Also canceled $2,241.22 in uncollectible outstanding utility debts.

•Heard that the clerk’s office is returning some past utility deposits to residents by applying the money to their current bills.

•Were informed that the bids for repaving Moore Avenue, Walsh Court and Ellis and Layne drives through Indiana Department of Transportation’s Community Crossings grant will be opened March 17.

•Paid claims of $167,464.23.

•At Monday’s Dunkirk Board of Works and Public Safety meeting, Dunkirk Mayor Jack Robbins and Street, absent Dan Watson, approved paying Peerless Midwest $13,492 to rebuild a pump at the water plant. The board also paid $2,410 to Cargill Inc. for salt, heard that the sewage plant may be upgraded to have LED lights, and learned that a new full-time dispatcher has been hired at Dunkirk Police Department.