Arkansas city board candidate Dwayne Hall stepped over the state line this week to fight a utility rate increase expected to soon affect both sides of the city.

Hall asked Texas-side city council members to kill the request by the Texarkana Water Utilities for a 15 percent increase in water rates and 10 percent increase in sewer rates. He cited past increases and over-annexation as reasons to forego the rate hike. TWU is expected to make a similar request of the Texarkana , Ark. , city board.

In lieu of quashing the rate increase, the candidate requested the council, at a minimum, lower the hike and add a stipulation that TWU be required to aggressively seek customers from newly annexed neighborhoods.

During the public hearing, Hall spoke on behalf of the city residents and the utility. "The water company is constrained by actions of this council,” he said. “Annexations, for example, require TWU to service an ever increasing population with diminishing returns. When the city decides to annex property, the water company is obligated to run a water line to them. But there are not as many (homes) as in more densely populated areas of town. So what we have is miles of water line with fewer customers per mile than in the inner city."

This sets up a lose-lose situation for the utility and its current customers, Hall said. TWU needs the rate increase to pay for its extended customer base because many of those now able to tap into city water do not take that opportunity. This puts the burden on the existing rate-payers to pay for line and infrastructure extension for the annexed areas, rather than new city residents paying for the opportunity to get city water.

“They were projected to become paying customers, and when they didn’t, the inner city residents have to pay more than their share."

However, Hall empathizes with recently annexed populations as well. "My father is one of those citizens residing in a newly annexed area and yet to hook on to city water. And he has excellent well water, so he has little or no incentive to hook on. I understand that there are twp sides to this issue, but tonight we are talking about doing everything possible to avoid a rate increase."

Additionally, Hall asked the council to consider past reasons for rate increases. He pointed out that the last sewer rate increase was supported by high fuel costs which impacted the water utilities cost of chemicals.

"When oil was at its peak of around $150 per barrel, the price increases were used as a reason for the increase. But now oil has settled back to around $100, and so I ask that you scale back any increase you grant.”

After hearing from one other citizen opposed to the increase at the Sept. 22 meeting, the council voted unanimously in favor of the full rate jump for both water and sewer. It made no stipulation that the TWU change its customer recruitment efforts.