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11.27.04 M.U.D. proposes 60-cent increase in gas service fee Voice your opinion: Public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday in M.U.D. board room, 1723 Harney St. Budget vote Dec. 17. To shore up its cash-strapped natural gas department, the Metropolitan Utilities District is proposing to increase, for a third year, the monthly service charge. The district is proposing a 60-cent increase in the monthly fee. Because the service fee is a small portion of a customer's overall gas bill, the increase amounts to less than 1 percent of total residential gas bills, said Mari Matulka, spokeswoman for M.U.D. Most of the bill represents the cost of the gas itself. The increase is included in M.U.D.'s proposed 2005 budget. A public hearing on the $428.9 million package is set for Wednesday morning. The district estimates that mild winters cost its natural gas department about $24.8 million from 1998 to 2004, Matulka said. Jack Frost, chairman of the board, said the increase is necessary. "It not like we say, 'Let's have a rate increase,'" he said. "There's a reason for them, and it's because they're needed." M.U.D.'s budget for next year is 15.9 percent higher than this year's. That's due to higher gas prices, which the district passes on to the customer, and to construction of a new water plant in western Douglas County. The budget holds staffing roughly even at about 800 people. |
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