Water service rates going up 2.5 percent

The Whitefish City Council was split in its decision Sept. 4 to raise user fees for solid waste service and water and wastewater service.

Council voted 5-1 to increase water and wastewater service fees by 2.5 percent. The vote came despite a staff recommendation of a 4.7 percent increase to add money to the reserve fund to plan for capital improvements. The full hike would have increased rates by about $3.75 per month for the typical single family home.

“The reserves are adequate, although there’s the obvious point that the reserves will not continue to accumulate if we forego the rate increase,” Public Works Director John Wilson told the council prior to the votes.

Council voted down a motion by Richard Hildner to increase the rate by the full percentage. The vote was 4-2, with Frank Sweeney also voting in favor.

“The right thing to do is to plan for the future and make this as painless as possible,” Hildner said.

A second vote for a 2.5 percent increase passed with councilor Chris Hyatt as the sole no vote.

Councilor Phil Mitchell said he could support an increase if there is a need.

“My concern is there’s a number of people in town who feel like we have awfully high sewer and water and I don’t know how to answer them,” he said. “I don’t want to sit on an awful lot of money in savings.”

City staff recommended the increase as a result of a city ordinance that allows for an annual rate increase based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s consumer price index of utility services.

The raise in the water and wastewater rates was suggested as a way to continue adding reserve funds for capital improvements. The water reserve fund is at about $1.2 million and the sewer fund is at $600,000.

“This helps us keep pace with other rising costs such as labor, insurance and energy,” Wilson said. “It helps avoid large rate increases later. We have capital improvements that will eat up those reserves. We’re beginning to work on some stormwater projects.”

In the late 1990s, the city had three successive 30 percent water rate hikes to pay for a water treatment plant.

“The further you put it off the more you have to increase it,” city manager Chuck Stearns said. “Regular increases every year or large increases every few years are the result.”

Currently, the city is anticipating a future upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant as the wastewater treatment standards for nutrients is tightened.

“One of the things on my mind is the need to upgrade the plant,” councilor John Anderson said. “That could be a mind-boggling expense to come before the city.”

Mitchell made the motion for the 2.5 percent increase.

“I presently think we have enough funds,” he said. “I don’t think we can ever increase our rates enough to do anything about the changes to the plant. I’m at a quandary about how anybody is going to meet these new standards. We’re going to be hit with a huge bill.”

Council also voted to keep solid waste fees at the current level. City staff recommended a 3 percent user rate increase for services to continue adding to its reserve fund. Councilors Sweeney and Hildner voted against.

“That 3 percent amounts to 25 cents or two bits per month,” Hildner said. “It seems to me to have that cushion of cash reserve makes sense with only that small amount to the tax payer.”

The increase would have raised rates about 25 cents per month for a single family home. City staff suggested increasing the rate as a way to continue adding to its cash reserve.

The current reserves can absorb a 3 percent annual increase for contract hauling serves, but without the increase in fees the reserve will decrease.