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In separate votes Monday night, Kingfisher city commissioners approved utility rate adjustments and pay-per-use fees for bulky or excess residential trash disposal.

Both items had been discussed at previous meetings and were the subject of extensive discussion Monday night before being approved by 3-1 votes.

(Vice Mayor Wendell Prim was the lone no vote on both actions and Commissioner Richard Reynolds joined the meeting later.)

Utility Rate Changes

An ordinance adjusting utility rates first appeared on the January 2021 agenda but City Manager Dave Slezickey recommended commissioners delay action to allow the community to recover from the pandemic.

The ordinance includes increases in monthly fees for electric, water and sewage rates for residential and commercial customers and is the city’s first rate adjustment since 2014.

The new water and sewer rates are effective Aug. 15 and will appear on September billing, while the new electric rates take effect Oct. 1, according to the ordinance.

Electric rates will be flattened to a single year-round rate per kWh of usage, rather than the current structure of higher summer rates (April-September) and lower winter rates (October-March).

Specific adjustments include the following:

Electric Rates

Residential: monthly service fee increases from $18 to $20.50; 8.9 cents per kWh (currently 9.95 cents in the summer and 8.5 cents in the winter for everything over 800 kWh).

Commercial: monthly service fee increases from $28 to $30.50; 10.44 cents per kWH (currently 11.2 cents in the summer and 9.7 cents in the winter for everything over 800 kWh).

Electric rates also may be subject to a monthly fuel cost adjustment, a tariff imposed by the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority based on fluctuations in fuel prices across the power grid.

Water Rates

Monthly service fee increases from $15 to $16; charges per 1,000-gallon units increase from $1.80 to $1.89 for one to 10 units, $1.93 to $2.02 for 11-20 units and $2.07 to $2.17 for 21 units or more.

Sewage Rates

Monthly service fee increases from $10 to $11; per unit charges increase from $1.70 to $1.76 for two to 10 units; $1.87 to $1.94 for 11-20 units and $2 to $2.08 for 21 units or more.

Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg made the motion to approve the changes, but not before asking a number of questions of Slezickey.

“What is the advantage to the citizens to go to a flat (electric) rate?” he asked.

“To me and other electric customers, the benefit is that it’s a stable rate,” Slezickey said. “We’re not going to have the increased cost (per kWh) in the summer months.”

“If we’re adding new housing additions and new utility customers to the grid, do we still need to increase rates?” Mecklenburg asked. “If we approve this (rate change) and get questions from citizens, what’s the simple answer as to why we need it?”

“Even though we’ve done a good job of managing our expenses, the costs of operating our water, sewer and electrical systems continue to rise,” Slezickey said.

“Rate adjustments are necessary if we are going to continue to reinvest and make improvements to our system and accommodate growth and expansion.

“Hopefully we will review our rates a little more frequently than we have in the past.”

After Mecklenburg made the motion to approve the new utility rates, Mayor Roxie Alexander’s call for a second went unanswered for several minutes.

“I know it’s not popular and tough as an elected official to raise rates, but it’s necessary if we’re going to maintain our system,” Slezickey said before Commissioner Bill Tucker eventually offered a second to the motion.

The ordinance was adopted 3-1, with Prim voting no.

Sanitation Rates

A separate ordinance approved by the same 3-1 vote makes changes in how to handle – and pay for – disposal of bulky items and excess trash beyond what will be picked up by Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority, the city’s trash collection contractor.

The ordinance adopted Monday night reduces residential sanitation rates by $2.50 per month (less a 2.1% increase from OEMA).

Effective Sept. 1, new rates for in-town residential trash service is $13.89 per month (currently $16.05) and $14.93 out of town (currently $17.07).

Additional polycarts either in town or out of town will be $7.81.

What That Includes

The Times & Free Press clarified Tuesday in a phone conversation with OEMA General Manager David Griesel exactly what services the authority is contracted to provide, which is also listed on its website at oemaok. org/kingfisher/.

In addition to what is contained inside polycart(s), OEMA trucks also will pick up:

•Yard waste (grass or leaves) contained in plastic bags manufactured for that purpose and weighing 30 pounds or less. From Oct. 1-April 30, up to three bags, and from May 1-Sept. 30 (summer mowing season) up to five bags will be picked up each week.

•Boxes (wooden or cardboard), weighing 30 pounds or less and less than 10-cubic feet in volume, up to three each week.

•Tree limbs or brush less than four-inches in diameter per limb, secured into bundles no longer than 48 inches and no more than 18 inches in diameter and not weighing more than 50 pounds.

New Fees for More Trash

Commissioners adopted the following fee schedule Monday night for items larger in size or greater in amount than those picked up by OEMA, which will be picked up curbside by the city upon request or which can be taken to the convenience center.

(The first fee listed is the cost to drop off the item and the second is for curbside pickup.)

•Up to 55-gallon trash bag – $5, $7.

•Small limbs and brush six inches in diameter or less – $5, $8.

•Limbs over six inches in diameter – $5, $10.

•Pickup truck or small trailer load –$10, $17.

•Medium trailer load over 12 feet – $15, $25.

•Large trailer load over 12 feet, stacked – $20, $35.

•Desk/dresser/chest/shelving/table –$15, $20.

•Bed frame/chair – $10, $15.

•Couch/loveseat – $15, $20.

•Mattress or box spring – $10, $15.

•Refrigerator/freezer (green tag certified) – $10, $20.

•Air conditioner (green tag certified) – $10, $20.

•Washer/dryer/oven/stove – $10, $20.

•Hot water heater – $10, $20.

•Microwave/small appliance/other metal – $5, $10.

•Fence panel (6x8) – $15, $25.

Curbside pickup will continue to be available for residential utility customers within the city limits only and can be scheduled by calling City Hall.

Slezickey said charges for curbside services will be added to a customer’s bill.

Beginning Sept. 1, anyone living inside or outside city limits will be able to take the residential trash items described to the convenience center and pay the corresponding fee by either check or credit or debit card. Cash won’t be accepted.

Only residential trash will be accepted at the convenience center. Information is available at City Hall about local companies providing roll-off services for commercial construction sites and projects.

Slezickey said the convenience center will be open for eight hours on Saturday when the new fee system is implemented, as well as eight hours on another weekday, “probably Wednesday.”

The proposed changes prompted discussion among commissioners.

“One of the things I have about paying per item is that as soon as someone has to pay $10 to take a refrigerator to the dump, it’s going to end up dumped two miles north and three miles east out in the county,” Mecklenburg said.

“We’re hoping that by opening it up to anyone who wants to pay for it that we can alleviate some of what is already being dumped in the county because there’s nowhere local to take it,” Slezickey said. “What we’re currently doing is costing us money and we’re just trying to pass that cost on to those who actually use the service.”

“I guess the question is, do we ask everyone to pay a little bit to provide the service or do we just make the people who actually utilize the service pay for it?” Mecklenburg said.

“To me, the people who use it should pay for it,” Alexander said. “The rest of the people shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

A Complicated History

The location that is still commonly referred to as the city dump actually operated as a transfer center, where a city truck could be filled with excess trash and bulk items dropped off by residents and then periodically hauled off to a landfill.

When that operation was shut down several years ago due to Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality regulations, the city converted the same site to what it calls a “convenience center.”

That system consists of a number of roll off dumpsters which are emptied by Oklahoma Environmental Authority, the same entity that provides residential and commercial trash service.

In 2019, commissioners voted to begin charging every residential customer an extra $2.50 per month to offset the cost of the roll-off service as well as curbside pickup of bulky items and limbs by city employees.

But Slezickey said the charge isn’t fair to residents who never dispose of excess items either curbside or at the convenience center.

“We also closed the year with a $30,000 loss at the collection center,” he said. “That’s why we want to go to a pay pay-per-use rate system.”

“My comment would be, I think we need to consider spending money on education – either social media or in the newspaper – about why we’re changing it, the price of things, the option of doing polycarts, all of it,” Mecklenburg said.

“Also, we need to explain why curbside pickups (by city workers) are not included in what customers are already paying (for OEMA trash services).

“A lot of people will be mad that they can’t get stuff picked up for free anymore.”

“We took really, really, really good care of our customers when we ran our own sanitation routes, but we just can’t afford to do that anymore without someone paying for it,” Slezickey said.

Slezickey said delaying implementation until Sept. 1 would provide an opportunity for an educational campaign in the newspaper as well as in billing inserts for utility customers.

Details on other actions taken at Monday’s city meeting will appear in Sunday’s digital edition.