Somerton eyes water, sewer rate increases
SOMERTON — Residents here could be paying higher water and sewer rates beginning in January.
The council recently instructed City Hall to begin the legally required process for scheduling a vote in December on rate increases a consultant has said are needed to make utility services financially self-sustainable.
“As directed by the city council, the staff is beginning the process related to potential increases in the water and sewer rates,” City Administrator Ian McGaughey said. “The first step would be for the council to adopt a (public) notice of intent to increase rates, in its session (Tuesday).
“That does not obligate the council to increase rates; it simply begins the statutory clock. Then, 60 days after that notice of intent is adopted, the council will hold a public hearing in which the rate plan will be presented for public comment, then will be voted on.”
The city’s consultant, Willdan Financial Services, has recommended an incremental increase in the residential water rate over five years from $11.50 per 5,000 gallons at present to $15.91 per 5,000. It is recommending an increase in the residential sewer rate over the same period from $38.50 per month now to $46.86 a month.
Under those schedules, residents would see their rates go up by an annual average of $3.
Willdan is recommending that the new rates take effect in January. It is also recommending the city raise commercial water and sewer rates, as well as water rate hikes for homeowners in the Orange Grove subdivision, an unincorporated area that gets its water service from the city.
The consultant said
those increases are needed to cover the full cost of providing water and sewer services. The cost of water service alone annually exceeds the amount taken in at the current water rate by nearly $200,000, forcing the city to subsidize the service from its general fund.
The hikes also are needed to help fund repairs and upgrades the city wants to make to the water delivery and sewage treatment systems, the consultant said.
“We have a capital improvement plan that we need to implement, because there are improvements we have to make in two water treatment plants,” city Public Works Director Samuel Palacios said. “We have to replace equipment and change lines that have been in use a long time and are beginning to show signs of cracking or risk of collapse.”
The city needs $2.25 million to carry out the capital improvement plan, and part of the money for that project would come from bonds the city would issue in 2020.
Somerton last raised its utility rates in 2007, while the cost of water and sewer services have increased every year since, city officials said.
Mayor Jose Yepez asked city staff to prepare a presentation that clearly sets out the reasons for increases to the public.
“(The other cities in Yuma County) have implemented some type of rate plan,” he said. “We need it to pay for repair costs, but whatever we decide will be based on you giving us a good presentation, so that we can make it to the people. We need to have facts and information about why we are doing it and when was the last time we did it.
“(The increases) may seem small, but there are a lot of people with limited resources, and even though we would do it over five years, it is still going to have the same impact on them.”
McGaughey said that if the council votes Tuesday to approve publication of a notice of intent to raise rates, the public hearing would take place Dec. 4, at which time the council could vote on rake hikes. If approved then, the increases would take effect in early January.