Wednesday, December 6, 2023–11:39 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
The Cave Spring City Council is set to vote on a water deposit ordinance when it meets Tuesday.
The ordinance would see the water deposit increase for new customers to cover the cost if someone leaves the city while still owing a balance on their water bill, according to Cave Spring City Manager Nick McLemore.
“The city sets water deposit rates for customers inside the city limits, as well as Floyd County, and Alabama,” he said. “Over the past couple of years, they have been about the same, and we haven’t had any increase. However, our services have increased, and so we’re trying to make sure that if someone does leave that owes a balance the city is not having to write off that balance or turn it over to collections to deal with that issue.”
Currently, the deposit is $40 for a homeowner. If the ordinance is approved, it will go to $120. The deposit for renters, which is already $120, would stay the same. The change would go into effect on Wednesday following the city council meeting.
Cave Spring spay-neuter ordinance to get a vote
Back in October, the Floyd County Commission approved a new spay-neuter ordinance, and now the Cave Spring City Council will likely follow suit Tuesday.
The council will conduct a second reading and vote on a new ordinance which will mirror the one adopted by the county.
“We have been great partners with Floyd County, and they have been great working with us, so we want to support them however we can with this spay and neuter ordinance,” McLemore said. “We feel like it will make enforcement easier for animal control by having the same rules and guidelines when they come into our city to do that enforcement.”
The ordinance requires all dogs to be spayed or neutered and micro-chipped at six months of age. The requirement for cats is four months of age.
There would be several exceptions, such as if the animal is not medically sound or is a working animal, such as police canines or hunting dogs. Licensed breeders would also be exempt.
“It will have a six-month period where enforcement would just be informational,” McLemore added. “Folks will just be asked to have their pets spayed or neutered and microchipped and be responsible pet owners. Currently, we have a huge population of dogs running in our city that we’re addressing, so we feel this is the best path forward.”
City Audit report also on meeting agenda
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, the council will receive an audit report regarding the city’s finances from auditor Christian Hatch.
“At this time, we haven’t seen a final copy of it yet,” McLemore said. “We’ve been in contact with our auditor and we don’t expect anything to come out of this that is out of the ordinance. We fully expect a clean bill of health, so to speak, during next week’s meeting.
Tuesday’s Cave Spring City Council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at city hall.
