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money,” Mr. Widens replied, “to raise the rates of peojTt who use much water... families ’ on fixetHncoJiieCw9&# to conserve . W rit’s' unconscionable.
“Why people who come to a restaurant shouldn’t pay a four percent restaurant tax,” Mr. Wickens continued, “I don’t know. ”
He added that once the water system is fixed, the present rate structure will maintain it. “It must be fixed, but this is not the way to do it.”
Mayor Morehouse replied that his opinion is that rates need to be raised. “When the problem is resolved,” he proposed, “then we can reduce rates - if the system will sustain at the lower rates.
“People don’t understand the magnitude of the problem,” he added, “the only way to get this moving is to raise the rates.”
“I don’t want to sound like a prairie populist,” Mr. Wickens said, continuing his argument against a rate increase, “but people shouldn’t have to choose between flushing the toilet and eating lunch ... From $4.45 (the base rate before 1985’s increase) to $10 in two years - that is, I think, too much.”
Mayor Morehouse defended the increase, explaining that with only $2,000 in the bank, “if we let this go, by the end of the year we will be bankrupt.”
Mr. Wickens replied, “We’ve just enacted taxes which will bring $50,000 to the town.”
“How long,” Mayor Morehouse insisted,
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