Wichitans likely to see 9 percent hike in water bills

timesrecordnews.com

Wichita Falls residents will pay nine percent more for water if the City Council passes a proposed budget presented to the panel Tuesday.

That's likely to translate into a monthly increase of $5.27 for a typical residential customer.

Wichitans have not had a water rate increase in eight years.

City Finance Director Jessica Williams said the hike is necessary because costs of providing water have increased significantly.

She said costs are "exorbitantly higher," especially for chemicals necessary to treat water. Also, water main replacement pipe has doubled in cost. Supplies have jumped 38 percent.

Currently Wichita Falls is in the middle of the pack among 20 comparable cities in charging $58.46 for 5,000 gallons, with residents of San Angelo paying $92.

If the council approves the hike, it would increase the monthly bill to $63.73.

Public Works Director Russell Schreiber said costs to other cities will also go up, so Wichita Falls is likely to remain in the middle of the comparison pack.

City Manager Darron Leiker said the city can't cut costs like a private business might because of state regulations on drinking water, but he said the increase is moderate compared to other household costs like electricity and gas.

Leiker did not offer a property tax rate proposal for the coming year because all the figures are not in, but preliminary numbers presented to the council show total property valuations increased more than 12 percent this year to $6.52 billion, which Williams called a "tremendous increase."

Complicated state laws apply to tax rates, but Leiker said the current rate of 76 cents per $100 property valuation could drop to about 70 cents to generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year.

He said the tax rate, water rate and excess fund balances will be the most important considerations for councilors before they approve a final budget in September.