At a meeting on Tuesday, July 16, the Cottonwood City Council finalized a rate increase for the city’s water and wastewater fees. This is the last of several meetings on the topic over the past several months. The rates will go into effect Sept.1.
On April 16, the council voted 6-1 to move forward with the fee increase, with Councilwoman Jackie Nairn voting no. Tuesday’s meeting saw the same vote breakdown, with Nairn as the lone opposing vote and five ayes. Councilman Doug Hulse was absent.
“I don’t like increasing the rates,” Vice Mayor Tosca Henry said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We’ve discussed this at every meeting. But I do agree with the staff recommendation that at this point it’s absolutely necessary in order to avoid any future imminent shut downs of the system or other issues out there. We do need the funds.”
Under the approved plan, the rate increases would be spaced out over multiple years in order to avoid a massive jump in one year. Monthly residential rates would climb from $32 in 2018 and 2019 to $37.65 in 2020, continuing to increase in increments to reach $58.85 in 2024, a total increase of $26.85 over five years.
Water connection fees would rise by small increments from the 2018 and 2019 rate of $44.25 to $48 in 2024.
“We try to balance it out over the next five years rather than one large increase and then trending it down, making it an easier pill to swallow for every one of us,” Deputy City Manager Rudy Rodriguez said.
According to Rodriguez, the increased fees stem from a lower amount of general fund expenditures into the system this year compared to previous years, when there was high spending from the council on the wastewater system to pay for the new Riverfront Water Reclamation Facility, which has since been completed and is no longer being paid into on the same level from the general fund.
