By Jill Bock
jillb@standard-democrat.com
NEW MADRID - The city of New Madrid has a holiday gift for its residences and hopes that they, in turn, will continue to spread the cheer.
A 10 percent discount was approved recently by the New Madrid City Council on the electrical portion of utility bills for December. The discount will be on utility bills mailed Jan. 1 as a line item listed as "Chris Disc" and shown as a credit on the bill, according to City Administrator John Gilbert.
The city administrator emphasized the discount is only for the electrical portion of residents' bills.
Gilbert said a discount for electrical use was offered in the past but was suspended due to budget constraints. This Christmas season, he continued, seemed like a good time to reintroduce the practice, especially with the recent sale of the power plant and the financial boost this brought to the city.
"It is motivation and a payback to the citizens because we did have to raise the rates when times were tough. Now that Council has rolled back the rates we can give the discount as well," said Gilbert. "We hope this will get people into the holiday spirit and more people will light up their homes, too."
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