By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock Newt Staff Writer

Rates for users of the Sperryville sewer system may increase 10 percent. The Water and Sewer Authority voted 4-1 to increase the rate from $14.10 per unit to $15.50 per month at a special meeting set to work on the budget last Tuesday.

Since then, member Charles K. “Pete” Estes said the authority may be required to hold a public hearing before increasing the rate, so the increase is only tentative.

Member Carson Johnson voted against the increase, recommending a rate of $15 per month instead.

The rate has remained at $14.10 for two years after starting at $12.85 when the plant first opened.

The budget adopted for the year calls for $43,000 in operating expenses and an estimate of $5,000 in capital improvements fpr purchasing a dechlorinator.

The new rate will bring in about $51,000 with another $3,500 of estimated income from interest on certificates of deposit held by the authority.

ferred from instruction for this purpose.

After checking out a bus, assistant superintendent Robert Chappell had driven to the board office from Madison County, the board voted to buy two school buses from Conaway Bus Sales in Pennsylvania.

The buses have International chassis and Carpenter bodies. The bid for the buses was $28,112 per bus compared to $31,106 from Salem Equipment in Salem, Va. for the International chassis on Blue Bird bodies that the board has bought in the past.

Following an executive session the board approved Bobbie Brochu’s request for early retirement. Mrs. Bruchu taught the remedial reading lab for second through seventh graders.

The board also voted to accept Eleanor Dietz’s request that she be released from her contract. Mrs. Dietz taught sixth-grade science and reading.

The School Board also voted to appoint Gretchen McCue to a position as part-time school psychologist.