A financial consultant Tuesday presented city officials with agood news-bad news scenario surrounding the upcoming closure ofSpecialty Minerals Inc.

The good news is that the city’s water capacity will improvesince the major user will no longer be using the system. The badnews is that almost $250,000 a year in lost revenue from the plantwill have to be made up elsewhere, possibly in the form of ratehikes for other users.

“The city is faced with the fact of what to do now,” Grubbssaid. “You also need to know what adjustments to make.”

The water and sewer department are enterprise funds, which meansthey have to operate off revenue they generate through fees paid bytheir users.

“There will be some reduction of costs based on the reduction ofusage, but it won’t be along the lines of what you need,” he said.”One good thing is that you won’t be using the same volume ofwater, so you have a future capacity you wouldn’t have hadotherwise.”

Currently Brookhaven’s minimum rates are lower than most othercities, with the minimum water rate being $8.60 a month and theminimum sewer rate being $6.45.

Comparatively, McComb’s minimum water and sewer rates are both$14.52 a month, for a total of $29.04, Grubbs said. Natchez charges$10 for both water and sewer, making a $20 total per month.

In addition to just catching up on costs as they stand, Grubbssaid, the city needs to prepare for unforeseen costs, like the wellthey fixed this year at a cost of $73,000.

Grubbs presented the board with three possible suggestions,saying that boosting both the sewer rate and the water rate to$8.93 each would be feasible. The minimum bill would come to $17.86a month, which is still lower than most comparable municipalities,he said.

Mayor Bob Massengill asked Grubbs if such an increase would keepthe board from having to raise rates again when budget time comesaround. Grubbs said that is a board decision, adding that somecities raise rates by a small percentage each year to make surethey have a surplus with as little pinch to the public aspossible.

“No consumer wants an increase but we are charged with keepingthe books in the black,” Massengill said.

The board did not make a decision on Grubbs’ findings since themeeting was a work session and not a regular meeting. The water andsewer rate situation may be brought up at the next boardmeeting.