VIENNA — Sewer rates have been an ongoing discussion topic at recent Vienna City Council meetings. Aldermen have discussed raising rates so the city can qualify for grants that would help pay the cost of a major sewer project. Many grants have a minimum rate requirement for municipalities to receive funding.

At the April meeting, the council approved a contract with MECO Engineering to do an engineering study that would result in a drafted plan for a sewer treatment system. The city’s sewers meet current Department of Natural Resources limits on ammonia outputs, but the city is planning ahead so it is ready to meet an expected decrease in ammonia limits in the future.

Before the council raises rates, it plans to use data collected from the engineering study to determine how much rates should increase. MECO Engineering has installed flow meters to collect water data. However, at the time of the June 14 meeting, there had been no rain. Vienna Utilities Superintendent Shon Westart said his discharge monitoring reports, which track pollutants in surface waters, displayed no rain in April and between 1 and 1.5 inches in May. After a little bit of rain in early June, he said there were about 2 inches of rainwater from which the engineers could extract data.

“What I need to know to make a vote is how much are we looking at by the time we need to get our grants,” South Ward Alderman Brenda Davis said. “How much do we need to raise that?”

Westart said they would need to wait until MECO Engineering could give them more information from the study, but the rates would need to increase no matter what the data shows.

“I’m hoping that we can do this incrementally,” Brenda Davis said. “I’m hoping that we don’t have to come up with a $2.50 per gallon raise all at one time.”

City Clerk Karen Dudenhoeffer said she could check with other municipalities to see how Vienna’s water rates differ. Westart said he expected to have data by the time of the next meeting, which is scheduled for July 11 at 6 p.m. at city hall.