Under a plan by Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes to balance next year’s city budget, the average utility customer would pay about $6 more a month for services.
Disabled utility customer Linda Schinkel is on a fixed income and says she can’t afford higher utility bills. Schinkel has multiple sclerosis. Her granddaughter Gabby has cerebral palsy. Schinkel pays a higher than average utility bill to operate Gabby’s medical equipment including pumps, tubes and oxygen tanks. Gabby needs these electrical devices to survive.
Schinkel said, “There has to be some kind of help somewhere. We can’t do it. I can’t.”
Central Missouri Community Action administrators gave Shinkel about $300 in utility assistance for the entire summer. Schinkel appreciates the help, but says that’s not nearly enough to cover her summer season of bills.
Central Missouri Community Action gives utility assistance to help Columbia residents keep their thermostats going in the summer and winter months. Administrators predict they will be out of summer assistance money by the end of this week. The city proposal calls for a 5% water rate increase, a 1.5% increase for electricity and a 15% for sewer services. That adds up to about an extra $70 a year for the average customer.
Central Missouri Community Action administrators said the proposed increases would also affect the elderly.
CCAP Community Services Director Angela Hirsch said, “The elderly really don’t have a lot of options for increasing their income when they are on a fixed income. Another fee that’s just tacked on is another hardship.”
This summer’s hot temperatures have made our utility bills a lot higher than normal. Schinkel said she can barely afford to pay the current rates and doesn’t know what she would do if her utility bills went any higher.
Columbia city council members plan to hold public hearings on the proposed utility rate increases during their meetings in August and September.
Columbia’s new budget year begins on October 1.
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