SILVERHILL, Alabama --- The Silverhill Town Council voted to grant a cost of living increase for town employees and is considering changes to the ordinance governing water rates which would include a slight increase.

At its meeting Monday night, the council voted unanimously, although somewhat hesitantly, to approve a 1 ½ percent cost of living increase for its employees.

“I wish we could do more,” said Council member Shirley Stephens. While Council member Bert Jones agreed that his hesitation to vote for the measure stemmed from a desire to approve a higher rate. “That’s just all we can afford right now.”

All Council members were present at Monday’s meeting.

The council also voted unanimously to introduce Ordinance No. 400, an amendment to modify Ordinance No. 379 for the town’s water rates.

The proposed ordinance includes a $3 rate hike for usage up to 2,000 gallons, increasing the minimum rates from $18.79 to $21.70 for in town users and from $21.05 to $24.05 for out-of-town users.

The next tier of usage remains $5,78 per thousand gallons for in-town and $7.25 per thousand gallons out of town, but the proposed ordinance changes the third tier of usage from over 4,000 gallons to over 6,000 gallons with rates of $3.47 per thousand gallons in-town and $4.38 per thousand gallons out-of-town.

The Ordinance also proposes to change the deposit rate from $60 to $100 for owner residents and from $125 to $200 for rentals.

The proposed Ordinance also adds a non-payment fee of $50, eliminating the $20 collection fee and the $25 re-connection fee, and changes the cut-off for non-payment from the 25^th of every month to the fourth Monday of every month.

The Ordinance also proposes to add a provision for an adjustment which would be assessed every five years, provided that the water customer had a high bill that was due to circumstances beyond his/her control.

Ordinance No. 379, which set the town’s current water rates, was adopted June 3, 2008. The town has not had an increase in its water rates since then.

The proposed Ordinance will be advertised and posted at town hall for two weeks and will be brought for consideration at the council’s April 2 meeting.

In other business Monday the Council:

• Approved the shredding of sensitive documents kept at Town Hall at a cost of $336. At its meeting March 5, Court Clerk Amy Macon reported that there were more than 15 boxes of documents at Town Hall dating back to 1992.
• Tabled discussion regarding changing to use the state proposed 2012 building codes.
• Tabled consideration of a part-time temporary office clerk.