Well, that was over fast. With minimal discussion, the council unanimously (absent councilpeople Lance Jack and Jane Adams) approved ending minimum rates of water and sewer as of April 30 of 2012, switching to charging for the actual amount used and bumping that up over the next 5 years to pay for needed infrastructure improvements to the system. Not much of a surprise here.
Also, council voted unanimously to participate in the League of Cities Prescription Discount Card Program. This is a program that allows residents of participating cities to sign up for a discount card they can use as participating pharmacies for an average discount of 23% on prescriptions not otherwise covered by insurance. The city considered participating in the program several years ago but decided against it at the time since only a couple of local pharmacies participated and council felt the program would both give an unfair advantage to those pharmacies and implicitly give the city's endorsement to them. Now that approximately twelve pharmacies in the area participate, any advantage appears moot.
It is interesting to note and a commentary on how difficult it is to operate an independent pharmacy in today's market, that a search of participating pharmacies returns only one in Carbondale that is not part of a discount or supermarket chain.
Also, council voted unanimously to participate in the League of Cities Prescription Discount Card Program. This is a program that allows residents of participating cities to sign up for a discount card they can use as participating pharmacies for an average discount of 23% on prescriptions not otherwise covered by insurance. The city considered participating in the program several years ago but decided against it at the time since only a couple of local pharmacies participated and council felt the program would both give an unfair advantage to those pharmacies and implicitly give the city's endorsement to them. Now that approximately twelve pharmacies in the area participate, any advantage appears moot.
It is interesting to note and a commentary on how difficult it is to operate an independent pharmacy in today's market, that a search of participating pharmacies returns only one in Carbondale that is not part of a discount or supermarket chain.
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