CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Kanawha County commissioners unanimously agreed to provide $5,000 to help pay the Pratt Water Co.'s debt of more than $36,000 to the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board during Thursday's meeting.
The commissioners also agreed to provide $1,000 across-the-board raises to county employees effective Sept. 1.
Pratt owes the state agency $36,662 in retirement contributions for employees.
Commissioner Dave Hardy said he was loath to pay off the entire debt even though it could hold up a planned merger between the town-owned water system and West Virginia American Water.
The merger would help to improve the water system, which has struggled with finances and with providing clean water to its customers, Hardy said.
The Consolidated Public Retirement Board planned to file suit today if the funds were not paid, said Jeaneen Legato, the board's general counsel.
Hardy doubted that effort would be fruitful.
"If you get a judgment against the water system, good luck collecting," he told state officials at the meeting.  
The commissioners also promised to work with Pratt officials on a plan for the city-owned water system board to pay off the debt.
"There is a slight chance that a lawsuit could still be filed," Legato admitted after the meeting.
She said she would strongly recommend the board hold off on the lawsuit since the commissioners agreed to pay $5,000 and promised to have a solution in place by Sept. 6, the date of their next meeting.  
The board has sent the town about 20 certified letters about the debt and the state's intent to sue, said Jeff Fleck, the board's executive director.
Pratt Mayor Gary Fields said he had given the letters to an employee with the water system.
Fields initially asked the commissioners to pay the entire debt. However, he was pleased with what they did.  
The commissioners took Fields to task for an oversight that could get the water system and the city sued.
"We're talking about years of mistakes," Hardy said.
Commission President Kent Carper asked Fields if the water system had any other outstanding bills that could endanger the proposed merger with West Virginia American Water.
Fields answered that they did not.
The $5,000 will come from the county's coal severance fund.
The commissioners also approved the first across-the-board pay raises for county employees in several years.
Carper believes the county can afford a pay raise for employees and the cost of living has increased steadily since the last pay adjustment.
"It's been a long time since we gave raises," he said.  
The commissioners debated whether to give employees a percent pay increase or a flat pay increase. Carper pointed out that a percentage pay increase would favor employees with higher salaries.
Commissioner Hoppy Shores favored the $1,000 increase because of employees at the lower end of the income scale.
"I'm not really worried about the higher end," Shores said.
The $1,000 across-the-board raise will cost about $514,000 in the coming fiscal year, Carper said. He said the county had set aside some funds to cover the raises.
The commissioners also received an update from the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority concerning compressed natural gas vehicles.
Carper has been pushing for conversion of public fleets to compressed natural gas for many months.
Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority General Manager Dennis Dawson informed the commissioners that the agency's board voted to purchase eight new buses powered by compressed natural gas at a cost of about $2.5 million.
Three 18-passenger buses and five 30-passenger buses will be purchased, he said. The decision was made even though there is currently no compressed natural gas filling station in the county.
"I'm confident that we'll have one, maybe two filling stations within sight of the courthouse by the time we get the buses," Dawson said.
It will take about 60 weeks to get the buses, which will replace aging vehicles, Dawson said. The agency has until January to alter the order and ask for diesel fuel-powered buses if a filling station is not built in the city.
Dawson said one of the stations must be placed at KRT headquarters on the West Side to make the conversion feasible.
The 18-passeger buses will cost about $90,000 each, and the 30-passenger, about $434,750 each. The agency will save about $15,000 in fuel costs per bus by converting to compressed natural gas.
The agency received a $2 million federal grant to purchase the buses. The agency will match that with $500,000 from its own coffers, Dawson said.          
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