Last December, the City Council raised the rates we pay for water and sewer and these higher rates took effect on Jan. 1. At the same time, City Council decided to continue its policy of charging non-city residents sewer rates that are twice those we residents pay and further, to extend this same rate differential to nonresident water rates.
A few months later, the Council suddenly reversed course, deciding instead that nonresidents should pay the same water rates that residents pay. Although it was told such action would decrease revenues to our water fund by $236,000 annually, the Council still decided to “suspend” nonresident water rates retroactive to Jan. 1.
The city further decided to spend $7,500 to hire a consultant to determine whether any difference in utility rates for nonresidents could be cost-justified. That study was completed in July. It found that the city’s cost to provide water to nonresidents is 2.5 times higher than providing water to residents ($19.14 vs. $7.70 per 1,000 gallons). It also confirmed that the city’s cost to provide sewer to nonresidents is two times higher than providing sewer to residents ($21.50 vs. $10.42 per 1,000 gallons).
What this means is that we city residents have been subsidizing for years, to the tune of $236,000 each year, the below-cost water rates paid by nonresidents.
The council had an opportunity to fix this problem recently when it again raised the rates for water and sewer. So what did it do regarding nonresident water rates? It chose to ignore study’s findings so we residents will again be forced to provide another $236,000 subsidy to nonresidents in 2016.
Shame on the council. The rates nonresidents pay for city utilities should reflect the findings of our consultant’s study.
Jeff Bork
Durango
