03-13-2002 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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These usage rate changes should generate $28,448 in revenue. Additional revenue can be raised by increasing the water service charge by $1.00 which represents a 7.5% increase. This change would generate $20,700 in revenue. (This charge has not been increased since 1993.) The result of these increases lowered the estimated loss from $85,995 to $36,847. While these increases are larger than I would like, I think it is important to note that since 1993 the water fund has experienced an average rate increase of over 2.50% a year. In 1993, our rates were $1.71 for the winter period and $1.77 for the summer period. In the sewer fund, we did not convert to a volume rate charge until 1995. At that point, our rate was $2.15 per 1,000 versus the current $2.31 per 1,000. From 1995, this averages to approximately 1.06% increase per year. Furthermore, the minimum sewer charge has not changed during this period. Therefore, I think our utility rate increases have been very reasonable in terms of inflation comparisons and with the rate charged by similar service providers. It is my recommendation that we adopt the rate increases as proposed. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know. SR:jj 2