Malta City Council Report for Wednesday, November 20 2019

The Malta City Council unanimously voted to increase the sewer rates in Malta by $4.50 per month, the first sewer rate increase since 2006 when it was raised $6, to help pay back a loan secured to pay for repairs at the Legg Lift Station.

A public meeting held before last Tuesday's vote on the rate increase was attended by a few members of the public, but very few questions were asked and the resolution for the increase was passed.

Malta Mayor John Demarais said the Legg Lift Station is 40 years old and was recently flooded. He said to pay for the work on the station, the City of Malta had to borrow $403,000 from the Montana De-partment of Natural Resources and Conservation’s (DNRC) revolving Load Fund and $100,000 of that loan will be forgiven.

“The only thing that this money can be used for is the lift station,” Mayor Demarais said. “I’ve been told ‘oh sure, you’re just raising rates to help pay for the stagecoach (The Old Zortman Stage Line that is being refurbished in Bozeman, Mont.) We can’t do that. It doesn’t work like that.”

“The sewer is an Enterprise Fund and it has to pay its own way,” Councilman David Rummel added. “We can’t take it out of the taxes.”

During department reports, Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove reported that the new (new to the City of Malta purchased from the City of Glasgow) street sweeper should arrive this week, and the new City of Malta garbage truck should arrive from Alabama the beginning of December.

Director Truleove reported the cardboard barn behind Malta Opportunity Inc. has been completely fenced in with chain-link, replacing the old wooden slats that used to hold the cardboard. Director Trulove also reported that the new street signs that had been purchased for streets in the Hillcrest section of Malta had been stolen off their posts. He said new signs were ordered and would be reinstalled and reinforced so future theft won't occur. The green and white signs replaced the old, faded blue and white signs about a month ago.