Granton Village Board discusses base rate change for sewer, sidewalk extension

By Cheyenne Thomas As the last stages of the village Main Street project are in the process of being completed, the Granton Village Board has been looking at the final pieces of funding needed to cover the costs of the project. During its Oct. 9 meeting, the board discussed and approved a tentative rate change for residents that is expected to be put into effect in December following review.

The village has been working to finalize its Clean Water Fund loan in the past few months. As part of the loan process, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) did a review of Granton’s wastewater department funding and found there to be a $50,000 shortfall that the village needs to have a plan to address in order for the loan to be finalized. During the meeting, the members of the board worked to crunch the numbers to figure out what sort of change to the base rate would be needed to remove the $50,000 deficit.

After calculating, the board voted to increase the base rate for the sewer by 9% this year, with a 4% increase per year afterward as recommended by the DNR. With the new rates, the base rate for residents would increase to $66.05 per quarter. Small commercial businesses would pay $99.32 per quarter and large commercial operations would pay $344.88 per quarter. The recommended rate changes will be sent to the Clean Water Fund for review to confirm that the changes made would be acceptable for the village to receive the $250,000 covered by the loan for the Main Street project.

The board also discussed allowing overnight parking on village streets during the winter months. The board decided to allow parking on the streets for residents who pay $8 for a permit. The change to the ordinance is planned to be put into effect by Jan. 1 of next year and the board will hold a series of public hearings in the next few weeks to allow residents to discuss the change to the winter parking ordinance.

In other action taken by the board at its meeting, the board voted to move ahead with a project to extend sidewalks south along Main Street/County Highway K to reach Dollar General and the Granton C-Store on the south end of the village. The project will cost the village $6,000 in out-of-pocket costs, as the funding for the project is not quite enough to cover the estimated costs to add in the new sidewalk. There is no timeline yet on when the new sidewalks would be installed, but it is expected to be put into the planning stages, as the Clark County Highway Department plans to repave the section of County Highway K that goes through Granton next summer.