By John Howell Sr.

Batesville water and sewer bills will reflect a four-percent increase as soon as the city receives approval from the Public Service Commission.

 The four-percent increase does not require PSC approval, but the city is also seeking an extra $5 monthly minimum bill for customers outside corporate limits. That increase requires approval if the customer is more than a mile outside the city limits, said Assistant City Attorney Colmon Mitchell.

The $5 increase and the four-percent increases, set to begin in the 2011 fiscal year, were unanimously approved at the October 5 meeting of the mayor and Board of Aldermen.

Property owner sues city

Salt Creek LP has sued the city, Bancorp South and a Bancorp South contractor for damages from a sewer line backup in January.

Salt Creek owns commercial buildings across Country Club Road from the Bancorp South location at the corner of Commerce Street. Problems with a main sewer line which serves the east part of Batesville and which follows a route along Sand Creek behind the commercial buildings prompted extensive emergency repairs.

“We turned the claim in to the liability insurance carriers; they have retained the firm of Griffith and Griffith to handle the defense for the city,” Mitchell said.

Driveway needs repair

During the Tuesday meeting Batesville Fire Chief Tim Taylor presented quotes for repair of a driveway that failed at Fire Station Number Three. He said that the original four-inch slab and construction problems had allowed the concrete to break up.

Taylor recommended contracting part of the repair with the city supplying labor and equipment to remove the old material and furnishing the construction materials. New specifications would include an eight-inch slab with 4,000 psi concrete with fiber, Taylor said.

The fire chief presented labor quotes from $39,600 to $10,113.68 from three different contractors with total labor and materials cost “around $31,800 if you take the lowest bid.” D and D Construction submitted the lowest quote.

The project had been trimmed down from an original engineering estimate of $116,550 for a turnkey replacement of a larger area of the job, Taylor said.

Aldermen accepted Taylor’s recommendation and approved the resignation of Jay Baker, a volunteer fire fighter who took a job in aviation “flying pipelines” in Houma, La., Taylor said. They also approved the chief’s recommendation for the sale of certain items of fire equipment that have been deemed surplus.