Benton County Water District #1 Public Water Authority of the State of Arkansas

 July 29, 2010 the Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority Board of Directors approved the implementation of a monthly assessment of $1.50 per each individual utility's individual billed customer. This assessment will remain in effect October 1, 2010 thru December 31, 2011. The District purchases water from BWRPWA. The Districts customers will see this fee starting on there October bills.  

In the November 16, 2010 regular Board meeting the Board of Directors voted to increase the rate structure by adding a 5.5% increase to the minimum charge and a 4.2% increase to the cost of water per 1,000 gallons. The new increase will be $5.00 per 1,000 gallons and on the minimum for the 5/8" meter will be $19.00. This will become effective January 1, 2011. This is needed to meet our debt service that we owe and the cost of operations. The employees of the Authority did not receive a cost of living raise.

At the 2011 Annual Meeting of the water users, it was noted in the 2010 audit that the Districts' bad debts were at $66,805.00. This brought questions from the attending water users. After some discussion, the Board of Directors asked the Manager to look into policies of other utility companies and bring back a recommendation to the Board at the next meeting.

At the Regular monthly meeting held on July 19, 2011, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to the proposal presented, which reads as follows: "That all bills will be sent out before the last day of the month, preferably 2 to 3 days before the last day of the month, so that the customers would receive them on or before the 1st day of the month. All bills would be due by the close of business on the 10th day of the month. On the 11th day of the month, bills not paid would be considered past due, and a late penalty would be applied. If the gross bill is not paid by the close of business on the 20th day of the month water service shall be disconnected and a reconnection fee shall be charged." This will become effective January 1, 2012.

Customers with extenuating circumstances may make special payment arrangements, before the shut off date, to pay the account balance. No arrangements will be granted past the close of business on the last day of each month. Arrangements not followed will be disconnected and a reconnection fee shall be charged.  Special arrangements for payments must be approved by an Authorized Representative of the Authority, and made in person.

The District has unfortunately cut our staff down to 7 employees. We have not given raises to our employees for the year 2010 and do not anticipate any raises for 2011. We have also cut our truck fleet by 1 truck also. Because of the economy and our customers conserving water, our sales are down; our customer base is down, causing cash flows to be down also. We have been cutting our spending as much as we can and not jeopardize the integrative of our system.

 Our system is 36 years old and we spend a lot of our time and money repairing the system, like leaks, general maintenance, and mowing and customer service.  

The District’s main objective is to provide safe, clean, good tasting potable water to our customers. Sometimes there are interruptions in service and I apologies in advance for this, but things break and have to be fixed. If any of our customers notice water flowing, pounding, soft spots or a reduction in their water pressure, please call our office at 636-0002 and let us know.  Thanks for your help!