Lindsay Residents Face Utility Rate Hike as City Struggles With Budget

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

LINDSAY, Oklahoma -- A decline in sales tax revenue and cleanup costs from last month's winter storm is putting a strain on Lindsay's budget.

Cleanup costs are estimated to be more than $400,000. The price has city leaders worried as they already face a $500,000 dip in sales tax revenue, City Manager Bill Mitchell said.

"In order to try and protect our budget and get us through this crisis that we're in, we're trying to do as much of the cleanup as we can ourselves," Mitchell said.

To cope with the budget, city employees are taking a pay cut, Mitchell said.

The economic downturn has hurt local businesses, and the ice storm only made it worse.

"It hurt us pretty bad as far as we have a lot of perishable items and stuff along those lines, and we brought trailers in and tried to save those items, and we lost a lot of product," said Rodney Townley, Super C Mart manger in Lindsay.

And soon his customers will spend less in the store and more on bills. The city is raising utility rates by $24 to deal with the budget crunch. The move has not been popular among residents, but it's one the city manager said had to be done.

"A lot of people think, 'Well you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that,' but we've got to have the money to pay for the bills as they come in," Mitchell said.

The utility hike will raise base rates from $26 dollars a month to $50 dollars, and pay cuts will go into effect in two weeks.

"I think we will overcome that, and sometimes it's just the price you pay to live in a small town America," Townley said.

The storm cleanup costs will be reimbursed by FEMA, but Mitchell said it could be months before they see that money.