By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The City of Olive Hill discussed ordinances and the potential for Brown Field designations and future grant opportunities during their regular November meeting. Council Member Eric Rayburn said it is important to consider that the city – and by default, consumers – were paying more per kilowatt hour under the previous electric provider. The City of Olive Hill recently changed its electric provider from American Electric Power (AEP) to Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KYMEA), a joint public agency.
The new kilowatt hour rate is .1550, which according to the council, will result in savings when averaged out over 10 to 12 months because customers won’t be hit with the same cost adjustments. As noted in a previous article, PCA (Power Cost Adjustment) adjusts based upon the cost to the provider for supplying electricity; but the new provider does not adjust costs upward when their cost increases. More pointedly, customers will no longer receive a surprise on their bills as that adjustment carries from the previous month and is applied to the subsequent month as the billing system ‘catches up’ with charges as it did with the old provider.
In other action grant writer Jennifer Meade addressed the council concerning brown field grants, and introduced a representative from Tetra Tech, the company that she said is leading the grant process. The representative, Sherry Weedman, program manager and senior environmental health scientist, was present via zoom.
Weedman said she had been working with Meade getting the application ready for a community wide assessment grant.
“We assist communities every year with these applications,” Weedman told the council.
“The brown field program is really just an economic tool for communities to revitalize any property that is being underutilized,” she explained.
Weedman said there were many different ways to approach the program, and the grant process they are working on now is to fund the assessment phase.
“If you are applying for a $500,000 grant for assessment as we are,” she said, “We are identifying sites that are not being used the best way.”
The assessment grant, Weedman said, allows for the determination of what, if any environmental issues are present and how those issues can be remediated. The assessment funds do not pay for the actual remediation, which would require additional funding. The assessment grant, however, is open to any property public or private, and requires property access authorization. It also requires the property owner to apply for that property to be in the Brown Field Program.
In other business, the City of Olive Hill agreed to ‘accept all ownership and maintenance’ for KY2529 from the beginning of state maintenance beginning at the junction of US 60 extending .96 miles to the end of state maintenance. The council also voted to give Mill Street (022CS20037) to state maintenance. The ‘trade’ of roads was to simplify and facilitate paving.
The Water Ordinance (2025-8) for 2025 was also discussed by the council. The ordinance was passed due to the fact that rising costs have caused a hardship on the city, and an increase in rates was deemed necessary. The full ordinance is available upon request but essentially the new ordinance makes updates to the previous ordinance. A surcharge of $1.11 will be billed per customer for Kentucky Infrastructure Authority Debt Service. The surcharge will be removed upon the payoff of the loan.
Deposits for water service are also affected by the new ordinance as well. The new charges will be a deposit of $50 for residential landowners and residential renters or tenants will pay a $100 deposit. Small commercial deposits will be $200 under the new ordinance, and large commercial usage will incur a $500 deposit. A deposit of $1,000 will be required on those locations deemed industrial.
The new ordinance also lists ‘tap on’ fees. Residential taps with a three-quarter inch line will pay $1,200 inside the city limits and $1,400 outside the city limits. Any tap one inch or greater will be billed to the customer at the actual cost of materials plus labor. In the event that roads must be crossed or installed through rock, any additional expense will be borne by the customer.
Amended water rates for inside city limits are $29.97 for the first 2,000 gallons. The rate thereafter is $11.19 per 1,000 gallons. Outside city limits the base rate changes to $47.01 for the first 2,000 gallons and $16.22 for every 1,000 additional gallons for usage up to 50,000 gallons.
Sewer service rates also increased under the new ordinance. The basic sewer charge per month inside the city limits will be $32.27 for the first 2,000 gallons and outside city limits will be $37.80 for the first 2,000 gallons. Additional use in excess of 2,000 gallons will be billed at $12.75 per 1,000 gallons. Tap on fees will be for a three-quarter inch residential line will be $1,250 inside city limits and the same outside city limits. Any tap one inch or greater will be billed at actual cost plus labor.
The minimum monthly residential electric service bill, according to the new ordinance, will be $16.75 plus 0.1550 per kilowatt hour used by the customer. Commercial electric service will be billed at $21.00 per month plus 0.1600 per kilowatt hour used. Industrial electric service, all three phase customers, will have a service charge rate of $33.00 and 0.1600 per kilowatt hour used during the billing cycle, and a demand charge of $2.50 per kilowatt hour.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
