Council to Increase Water Rates, Public Hearing to be Held
If you’ve been reading the Council city council reports, or have perused the legal section recently, you know that the city is about to undertake a large project to improve the water system in Council. What is involved with this project and how much will all this cost the city and residents?
The city has applied for grants and loans to cover the costs of this project whose total cost is currently at $4.7 million. Grants and some principal forgiveness leave the total debt the city has incurred for this work at $2,342,709. City Clerk Ashley Scott did caveat this by stating that if bids come in high the city would need to borrow additional funds to complete the project, or remove some work from the project to cut costs. The loans require an annual payment of about $140,000. One loan will be paid on until the year 2047 and the other loan until the year 2057.
To help pay for this project the city recently announced a rate increase for water service from $29.30 to $51 (42% increase) per equivalent user per month. This is to cover the costs of the annual loan payments. The city is also increasing sewer rates from $72.24 to $74 (2% increase) per equivalent user per month. This increase is due to the costs of goods and parts increasing and is not related to the increase for the water rate, according to Scott. The city can raise rates up to 5% each year without holding public hearings according to state code.
What does that mean for your water bill? The base rate for residential city water and sewer service will increase to $125 per month. It was previously $101.54. This is the cost for the first 7,480 gallons each month. The next 7,840 gallons costs $7.50; the next costs $10.00 and each 7,480 gallons after that costs $12.50 each month. These additional usage rates will remain unchanged from current rates for now.
This large expense was approved through a process commonly referred to as ‘Judicial Confirmation.’ This involved a public hearing in October of 2023 and a resolution that the city passed declaring this project necessary. The city then filed a petition in court for approval of this Judicial Confirmation which was granted in January of 2024. The city also placed legal notices for the project in this paper.
According to Andrew Kimmel with Great West Engineering, the current water system provides unequal water pressure across the city. The state wants water pressure at 40 PSI but some parts of Council are less and some are over 100 PSI. The project will include a booster station as well as pressure reducers to help deliver a constant water pressure throughout the city.
One of the water tanks on the hill east of town was constructed in the 1950s. Kimmel stated that the plan is to collapse the roof and backfill with material from the construction site. The booster station mentioned above will be placed near these tanks. Other items this project will include are replacing about 15,000’ of main line (or 19% of the total main line in the system) and about 150 water meters and services as some are suspected to have lead. Backup power will also be added so that the city system can stay online during power outages.
Kimmel told me that the city has multiple needs for this project and the intent of the project is to benefit the city with an improved water system that is safe for residents and getting appropriate flow rates for fire fighting efforts.
Right now the plan is collect bids and to hopefully start construction in September or October. The project would pause for the winter and pick back up again in the spring. Specialized equipment for this project has long lead times according to Kimmel.
This project comes a couple years after the city’s large waste water improvement project. That project cost $7.95 million according to Great West Engineering’s website. After grants the city’s portion is still over $4.1 million. The payment for this debt each year is about $133,000 and is scheduled to be paid in full in 2060.
A public meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on August 12 at City Hall. This will be part of the annual budget hearing and when the city will be accepting public comment. Comments can also be emailed to cityclerk@cityofcouncilidaho.org or hand delivered to City Hall.
