If any of the words in today's column are misspelled it's undoubtedly due to sweat slip. Both me and my keys are dripping.
This heat dome life can be rough when your domicile has no air conditioning. I'm not complaining. The early 60s all electric houses of the future were built for a different future than this one.
Fans and open windows once kept this house cool. But trees in front and back that shielded the house from sunlight are long gone from blight and age. Those can't be replaced overnight. All you can do is replant and hope.
The primary coolant in this house is water, always has been. If your house is in Elkhorn City, like mine, you are now paying just short of $20 more to get it piped in and out as you were last month. It did not suddenly get 33% better than last month.
As tempting as it is to blame city hall's recent misdeeds for this situation, we've got to look past. There are years and years of misguided councils and/or mayors this situation can be attributed to.
As one of those former council members, I think I can say that.
I served on Elkhorn City's council from December 96 until my term expired in December 98. If you get in the way back machine, Elkhorn still owned its own water company in that time. It was the pride of the municipality and part of that pride was mayors and officials being able to brag about the lowest water rates in the state.
But the lowest rates in the state were it's undoing. The water service was hemorrhaging cash, pipes needed replacement and the state water agency were telling the city it had to raise rates to access more state money to maintain the system.
The numbers were clear and they were all red if rates weren't raised. Combined water and sewer was about $35. The mayor proposed an increase which was slightly less than the state had recommended, but enough to maintain the cash flow from the state.
I and maybe one other voted for the raise in rates. The rest voted no and that was that. The single experience soured me on counciling so completely I didn't run for a second term. Within 10-15 years, Elkhorn City sold its water system because it couldn't afford to maintain it.
It was the easy way out. Sell it and let someone else raise the rates instead of raising rates themselves and taking the heat. But, again, there were years worth of bad governing decisions that led them there.
Now I can't say with any certainty that we wouldn't have $76 water and sewer bills in Elkhorn City today if those councils had kept rates at levels sufficient to maintain a water system. But I do know if we hadn't sold one of the few real assets Elkhorn City had we'd be setting the rates ourselves instead of having to pay someone else for the water that runs through the middle of our town naturally.