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TAXES: White Bear Lake, White Bear Township, Mahtomedi Schools set 2016 levies PAGES 3A, 5A, 8A
Litigation partly to blame for water rate hike BY DEBRA NEUTKENS REGIONAL EDITOR
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATONS
Queen Elsa takes the reins With the guidance of driver Brad Davis, Cassandra Ridge takes the reins during a holiday trolley ride and guides draft horses King and Fritz through White Bear Lake. The Twin Cities Party Princess representative was downtown during a voluntary Winterfest appearance as Queen Elsa from the movie “Frozen.” The horse-drawn trolley rides and visits with Santa will also be offered Saturday, Dec. 19 and are free with a donation to the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf.
School parking lots to get costly upgrades BY KRISTINE GOODRICH EDITOR
MAHTOMEDI — District 832 will borrow over $8 million to repair or reconstruct most of its parking lots. The Mahtomedi School Board on Dec. 10 authorized the issuance of bonds to fund construction at the district's high school, middle school, O.H. Anderson Elementary and the District Education Center. At the three schools, the parking lots and/
or drive lanes might be reconfigured to improve safety. At the elementary school, district leaders will be meeting with an engineer to try to design the parent drop-off and pickup route. On the secondary school campus, district leaders will be looking to improve the routes for pedestrians walking between their parking spot and their school. All of the asphalt will either be resurfaced or SEE PARKING LOTS, PAGE 9A
WHITE BEAR LAKE — In an attempt to recover the $250,000 spent to date on litigation regarding the lake level lawsuit, the city is revamping its water rate structure. A proposal would increase rates by 4 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017 to offset costs related to the litigation through 2019. Another 5.75 percent would be tacked on for operational costs in 2016 and 5 percent in 2017, bringing the total rate increase to 9.75 and 8 percent, respectively. It's the first increase since 2011. The tiered approach will go away in an effort to make rates more equitable. The tiered pricing has been criticized as inequitable as it charges a higher rate to larger families irrespective of whether they practice conservation. It has also been argued that the current rate differential is not enough to cause conservation. To advance the city's efforts regarding water conservation, it is proposed that a "non-winter quarter" rate be established in addition to a winter rate, which would be the baseline. This would apply to residential accounts only. "We are making an effort to reduce the amount of water taken," said City Manager Mark Sather. "The range between the low and high tiers is not enough to get people's attention. We use more water per capita in White Bear Lake because our rates are low." According to a Met Council report, White Bear Lake has the lowest water rates of 127 cities, Sather SEE WATER RATES, PAGE 9A
Trail renamed in honor of departing city manager BY DEBRA NEUTKENS REGIONAL EDITOR
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Days before his departure from City Hall, City Manager Mark Sather was honored with a surprise resolution from the mayor and City Council. All segments of the Lake Links Trail Network that lie within city limits are hereby designated the "Mark Sather Trail." In reading the resolution Dec. 8, Councilman Dan Jones noted, "in painful recognition" of the city manager's retirement, that during his 31-year tenure, Sather worked to promote the sidewalk and trail system for the use and enjoyment of pedestrians and bicyclists in the community. He was also a champion and advocate DEBRA NEUTKENS | PRESS PUBLICAITONS for extension of the Bruce Vento Regional Mayor Jo Emerson presented retiring City Manager Mark Sather with a Trail within the railroad right of way bear statue at the close of the City Council meeting Dec. 8. Council memSEE TRAIL ADVOCATE, PAGE 9A
“IF WE PLEASE YOU, TELL OTHERS. IF NOT, TELL US.”
bers also gathered in the picture: (From left) Doug Biehn, Renee Tessier, Mayor Emerson, Dan Jones, Mark Sather, Bryan Belisle and Kevin Edberg.
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