The West Plains City Council met on Tuesday and held the first reading of four bills that would increase utility rates for all four of the city’s utilities.
The City Council will hold a final vote on the four bills on March 21.
If approved in March, new rates for electric, water, sewer and sanitation will go into effect on April 1.
West Plains Finance Director Earlene Rich introduced the four bills to the City Council for their first reading.
Rich said, “We projected out a five-year plan for what expenses will look like for the next five years including capital and operations and then what the rates need to be to cover that capital and those operational costs.”
According to Rich, the city hasn’t raised its water and sewer rates since 2013, and the city hasn’t raised electric rates since 2016.
Rich said the city raised its sanitation rates just last
year, but the city’s utility operational costs continue to outpace revenue, and regulatory requirements for water and sewer utilities are pushing the need for increased investments.
Rich said, “These first two years are really catch-up years. In our five-year plan, we projected out what the rates need to be, but as many of you know, we have a lot of federal funding coming down for infrastructure.”
“So we wanted to present to you a rate schedule that covers existing costs and covers what we are thinking about for the future,” Rich said.
According to Rich, the utility rate increases have a flat rate and usage component and will be different for each household.
The city estimates the increase to range from $8.06 to $20.74 per month, depending on weather-related usage. To arrive at these estimates, the city compared a sample of bills including a young couple in their 20s, a family with children, a three occupant household consisting of a middle-aged couple with a child still living at home, a single senior age 70, and a senior couple ages 70 and older.
The city council will hold a second reading of the bills and vote on the proposed utility rate increases at their March 21 City Council meeting, held at City Hall, located at 1910 Holiday Lane.
A public comment session will be held at 5 p.m. before the regular March meeting.
Residents can view the proposed electric, water, sewer, and sanitation rates for residential and commercial online at https://westplains.gov/city-council-meeting-agenda-2.
