City to consider boosting water rates

The Lodi City Council will consider raising water rates by 3 percent when it meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Carnegie Forum.

According to Lodi Public Works Director Charlie Swimley, the proposed increase is primarily driven by the need to continue funding the water meter program. Swimley said a downward trend in usage due to conservation has led to a decline in revenue.

Water usage is down 25 percent from 2013, and that combined with increases in construction costs due to an improving economy has led to the proposed rate hike, Swimley said.

According to Swimley, the city is spending up to $5 million each year installing new meters and is in the sixth phase of an eight-phase project. City staff will be going before the council to authorize plans and specifications for phase seven. Once the water meter program is complete, the fund balances will rebound in fiscal year 20192020, Swimley said. At that point, the city will need to reconsider the rates because fund balances are expected to increase substantially during that time.

If approved, the new rate will take affect on Jan. 1, and for customers currently on a flat rate monthly plan the charge for a three-bedroom house will increase from $45.89 to $47.27, an extra $1.38 a month. A metered resident using an average of 1,800 cubic feet of water per month will see an increase from $40.63 to $41.89, or $1.26 per month.

“We are very conscientious and careful with how we establish our rate structure and impose increases,” Swimley said. “Right now, while we have the water meter program in place, the council has chosen to complete that work by 2018 or 2019 and in order to maintain that schedule we need to spend about $4 to $5 million each year until that’s completed.”

Swimley said the increase is needed to maintain reserves, which the city is projected to begin dipping into in the fiscal year 2017-2018.

“It’s never a comfortable position to request rate increases, and we do appreciate our customers’ responses to the drought. We try to predict and implement small rate increases more frequently rather than large rate increases less frequently,” Swimley said.