Monroe City to vote on utility repair and upgrade bond

MONROE CITY, Mo. (WGEM) - Monroe City, Missouri, officials say many of the city’s utility systems are in need of repairs and upgrades.

On April 4, voters will decide whether to pass a $20 million bond issue to help with those improvements.

City officials said they need to apply for grants to help repair and upgrade the city’s utility systems and if the bond issue passes, it will allow the city to match any grant funds they receive.

City Administrator Tamitha Ague said the bond issue is important for the city.

She said the city’s water, electric, and gas utility systems need to be brought up to code and improved. She said the upgrades will make the services more efficient for the residents and businesses who rely on them.

“It’s been, several years, numerous years since the system, all three of those systems have been upgraded so as we know everything needs a tune up and this is a good way that we can show the city that, and our businesses that are here that we are trying to stay as efficient as possible for you,” Ague said.

Ague said the bond issue won’t raise taxes.

She said there are safety risks if the systems aren’t upgraded, including water pipes leaking and letting pathogens in and electric transformers overheating and causing power outages. She said the general fund won’t be able to cover all the necessary repairs.

See Real Estate Broker Debbie Kendrick said they have been seeing more power outages lately. She said the most recent one was about two weeks ago and lasted a few hours.

She said she hopes the bond issue passes to help fund needed maintenance and improvements on the city’s utility systems.

“When your roof starts leaking you put a new roof on or you prepare for it before the roof needs to be put on,” she said. “We need our routine maintenance taken care of but now we got to start at square one and get new before we can start our routine maintenance stuff again and so this is important upgrade for our community, very important.”

Kendrick said businesses do consider how efficient utility systems are when looking for areas to set up in.

Ague said residents would also save money on when the upgrades are made, how much isn’t known at the moment.

The estimated cost of electric projects is $11,338,400, $1,300,000 for water projects and $500,000 for natural gas projects.

The estimates could be lower depending on bids, but the extra bond money ensures that if the projects are more due to inflation, they can cover it.

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