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Oak Ridge North mayor to inform residents of issues

By: Jim Kuykenall
| Published 04/07/2016

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This past weekend myself along with other candidates and supporters passed out flyers to the residents in Oak Ridge North. We will again be passing out flyers to inform the residents about the issues. I wanted to take this opportunity to relay information to you via email. I would ask you to forward this on to your friends so they too will know the facts.

The flyer we handed out this past week was about the water rates. As you know Al Stahl has stated in writing that if elected he will “roll” back the water rates 25% and that the City has funds to pay for maintenance and improvements to the water system.

This is not true, and here’s why:

Our water and sewer rates are set so that the water and sewer system pays for itself. ALL money that is paid into the system is used for the system and nothing else.

Our water infrastructure is 46 years old. It is deteriorated and badly in need of upgrading as well as continued maintenance. As you know, in the past we had to go into debt when we were forced to upgrade our sewer system. We believe we can do better on the water system. The City has a plan whereby we are using extra money from our rates to upgrade and maintain our water infrastructure over five years. The goal is to pay approximately 1.5 million dollars without having to go into debt.

The City does have funds that are in reserve – Funds for debt service, Court funds, and other operational type reserve funds. However those funds are restricted and cannot be used for anything other than their designated purposes.

IF Mr. Stahl is elected and if he rolls back the water rates, the water system funds would be used up in 2016 and there would be NO money available for 2017. The City would be forced to go into debt to do any maintenance and upgrading!

This election is important for the future of our City. I believe that we can work together to solve any problem that comes up. My intention is to keep you informed and I appreciate your passing the information on.

I appreciate your support for me and Tom Coale as we run for re-election, and for Alex Jones and Michelle Cassion as they run for City Council.

Lastly, I would like to invite you to the Candidate Forum that will be held tomorrow night (Thursday – April 7th) at City Hall. The forum starts at 6:30 PM.

God Bless you and your family.

Jim K.

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