The Falkville Town Council discussed changing the town’s water and sewer tap fees to cover the cost of materials at a regularly scheduled work session Tues., Sept. 30.

The current flat fee of $350 each is not enough to pay the town’s cost in labor and parts, causing the town to lose money on each installation. Last year, Falkville only put in three water and sewer taps, so the cost has not been too much of an issue.

The council looked into raising the fees in the past, but never decided anything after finding that their water and sewer tap fees were by far the lowest around.

Tuesday the council discussed having different fees for each of the meter sizes and charging individually for the cost of materials. The charge for a 5/8 inch or ¾ inch meter would be $300 plus the cost of materials, a 1 inch meter would be $350 plus the cost of materials, and a 2 inch meter would be $400 plus the cost of materials.

The council will vote on the changes at the next council meeting Tues., Oct. 7.

Councilmembers also looked over an estimated budget for next year. A budget summary for 2014-2015 showed Falkville having $1,951,250 in revenue and $1,950,714 in expenses.

Councilman David Carroll felt good about the proposed budget, but suggested that the council wait until April to determine employee raises.

“We worked many hours on this budget, and I think the estimates are close to the real numbers,” Carroll said. “We have a good bit of money coming to our capital expenses account from the one cent tax we levied earlier, so that’s been very helpful. Yearly raises haven’t been factored in yet, and although we look pretty good now, I suggest we wait until April to determine raises just to make sure.”

Mayor Bob Ramey was very happy with the money Falkville had saved in the past year.

“We have saved a lot of money by doing a few things ourselves instead of having to pay someone else,” Ramey said. “We have been doing our own repairs and upgrades as much as we can, and it’s really helped out. It’s great to see our work paying off.”