No one wants to pay more for utilities, but generally most people understand when increases are needed to maintain the system or meet costs.
That’s the case with the Columbia Board of Aldermen’s decision to raise garbage rates as of Oct. 1. A 50 percent increase is substantial — from $10 per month for residences to $15 per month — but it puts the price in line with other cities and is needed to avoid losing money. The city has been losing $7,000 to $10,000 per month on garbage service, which is a cost taxpayers have been incurring anyway.
The city could have just increased it by $3 per month to break even, but it made sense to bite the bullet and do it all at once rather than raise it $3 now and then have to raise it $2 more in a couple of years.
But the discussion about garbage rates raises a greater issue of concern: The city’s population continues to slowly trickle downward. One reason the city is losing money on garbage is because it does not have as many occupied households as it did when it first bid out the service to a private company a few years ago.
The population has fallen 21 percent since a peak of more than 7,700 in 1980. Meanwhile, the population in Marion County is roughly flat over that same time period. There are many nice neighborhoods just outside of the city limits. Those are part of the city in everything but name, and those residents certainly benefit in many ways from city services.
That’s why it makes sense for the city to consider annexation.
Of course, the numbers need to be crunched to make sure it makes sense before doing so.
For the city, the benefit would obviously be a better tax base. For residents, they would get better fire ratings, which would lower home insurance costs, and sewer and police service.
However, the questions for the city would be how much it might cost to provide those additional services, especially running sewer lines, and for residents how much the additional tax bill would be.
Whatever the outcome, the city has taken a wise first step in hiring Slaughter & Associates. The Oxford firm has done this same thing all over the state and knows any potential hiccups that may come up.
A successful city needs to be able to sustain growth, and annexation is one way to do that by adapting to trends in where people are living, which don’t necessarily match up with lines drawn decades earlier. Columbia needs to explore whether now is the right time for it to do so.
