Water Study Taking Place In Austin

A water study's been done in Austin. Municipality of North Norfolk Mayor Neil Christoffersen says it's something they have to do every few years.

"Water rate study is something that's done on a regular basis with all utilities to make sure the amount they're charging is the correct amount to cover all the expenses that are involved in the services the utility provides. So, in this case it hadn't been done for a number of years. So, we were just doing it again."

Christoffersen says it's only the first phase of the study.

"This was just the preliminary start of the study. We'd hired Dale Lyle from Way To Go Consulting to go through all the numbers and put them all together for us and go to council. So council has to come up with a solid decision yet on which way we're going to go. Because once this study is done it also has to be sent into the Public Utilities Board and also approved by them. "

He adds the Public Sector Accounting Board rates also affect theirs.

"That was one of the times that we did talk about, was the P.S.A.B. rates and how they affect our water rates, and our bottom line in the year end reports for the water utility, it does affect it. P.S.A.B. does their books one way and P.U.B. does them another way, and they don't always jive. So, we have to make the corrections to make sure we have everything that the P.U.B. wants."