PEA RIDGE — Meeting the regulations passed down from the federal government are costly and will necessitate additional costs to the citizens of Pea Ridge.

A public meeting was held Jan.

18 to present the need to the public. The information will again be shared at a public meeting Feb. 15 prior to the regular City Council meeting.

Council members listened to the presentation by Ken Hayes, water/wastewater superintendent, but questioned why the projected increase did not cover all of the anticipated financial shortfalls. Hayes told the council that the proposed increase in sewer rates would generate about $120,000, but the department would still fall short by about $30,000.

Telling the council the department is cutting costs and being frugal, including doing work that they used to contract out, he said he didn’t want to ask for too much because there hasn’t been an increase in eight or nine years.

“So right now, phosphorous is not an issue for us. Ammonia is a major issue,” Hayes said. “We’re trying to buy Pea Ridge a little time. We know we’ve got capacity issues ...”

Alderman Bob Cottingham said that if an increase is warranted, they might as well consider increasing enough to meet the needs instead of considering an increase this year and again next year, calling the current proposal a “bandaid fix.”

The council agreed to hear the issue again at the February meeting.

In other business, the council:

◊Approved a 3-percent cost of living increase across the board for city employees.

◊Approved a salary of $45,000 for Mayor Jackie Crabtree, saying he had not had a salary increase since 2008.

◊Heard the year-end report on the city library and agreed to look into options for the library, including putting out a survey to see what the community wanted in a library.

News, Pages 1 on 02/02/2011