Connection fee will determine monthly water rates
Connection fee will determine monthly water rates
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
The Bureau of Reclamation might have been preaching to the choir Monday morning.
Ryan Water, the head of construction for the Fort Berthold Rural Water system, told council members that he and three others were meeting in special session to see what they can do to reduce water rates now that water is beginning to flow through the system.
The Three Affiliated Tribes is obligated to pay the city a one-time connection fee of $725,000, according to a contract drawn up and signed in September 2008. That fee, which is a 40-year term loan, has 36 payments remaining and is directly related to how much Fort Berthold Rural Water Users will pay for potable water.
Council member Darrell Salter quickly told Water that arrangements have already been made with USDA to consider changing the loan’s criteria to reduce monthly payments for water users.
“It’s tentatively been approved, but we can’t move forward until we know it’s OK,” Salter said. “To sit here today and say we’re going to drop it $10 or $12 is impossible until we know. It all hinges on USDA’s approval.”
