Beth Low-Smith appointed to Mayor’s task force on water costs

Tomorrow Beth Low-Smith and 14 others on a Mayoral-appointed task force will kick off the first of a year-long series of public meetings that will analyze the financial aspects of Kansas City’s current and long-term water needs.

​The first Cost of Service Task Force Meeting will take place Tuesday, April 19, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at KC Water Services, in the First Floor Auditorium (North Entrance), located at 4800 E. 63rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

“Since 2005, KC Healthy Kids has been making affordable, locally-grown food more available throughout our region. We cannot ignore the fact that water also needs to be affordable for food producers, especially urban farmers and community gardeners,” says Beth Low-Smith, vice president of policy for KC Healthy Kids. She is also director of the Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition.

​Low-Smith also served on a committee that helped establish KC Grow, a water grant program for urban growers. The program helps them assess their water needs and recommends appropriate access strategies. KC Grow Small Grants can then be used to support implementation, helping defray costs for things like stormwater catchment systems and municipal water line tapping. In return, the city benefits from reduced stormwater runoff.
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“Urban farms and gardens play a key role in reducing stormwater management costs. Tilled, cultivated soil soaks up and stores more water, reducing sewer overflows and flooding.” Low-Smith said. When growers have reliable and affordable access to water through the city or with a new catchment system, they can expand their operations and further reduce stormwater runoff.Cost of Service Task Force members include:

• Carol T. Adams – Kansas City Environmental Management Commission
• Laura Alvarez – H&R Block, Director of Latino Operations
• James Brox – Retired Economist, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
• John Cottrell – UMKC School of Dentistry, Director of Minority & Special Programs
• Pat Ertz – Jackson County #2, Wholesale Water Customer
• Carl Evans – KCPS Board Member
• Brenner Holland – Hunt Midwest
• Jeff Krum – Boulevard Brewing Company, VP Corporate Affairs
• Beth Low-Smith – KC Healthy Kids, VP Policy
• Jan Marcason – Former Councilwoman & Chair of 2008 Cost of Service Task Force
• Dave Mecklenburg – Kansas City, Missouri Parks Board Member
• Katheryn Shields – Councilwoman, District 4 At-Large
• John Rich – Mid-America Assistance Coalition, Executive Director
• Jeff Thorn – Assistant Director of Engineering, Water Utilities, City of Lee’s Summit
• Scott Wagner – Mayor Pro Tem & Councilman, District 1 At-Large (Task Force Chair)

In order to pay for necessary infrastructure upgrades and federally-mandated programs, water and wastewater rates have significantly increased over the last several years. As such, KC Water will conduct a forward-looking Cost of Service analysis for the following reasons:

• To ensure that the fees collected from KC Water customers are sufficient to cover the long-term operational funding of its three utilities (Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater)
• To meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mandated requirements of the Overflow Control Plan;
• To service future debt requirements for water and wastewater capital improvements; and
• To allocate costs and charge customers in a fair and equitable manner across customer classes for each utility.

Future meeting information and related material, such as agendas and presentations, can be found at www.kcwaterservices.org/cost.