Some businesses with heavy water usage expect to pass on city water and sewer rate increases to customers, after absorbing them in years past.
Residents can expect to see a 10 percent increase for both water and sewer services and a 9 percent increase for trash and recycling services next year.
The average city utility bill for residents is expected to increase to $108 per month next year, up from about $99 per month, according to city estimates.
The Durango City Council unanimously approved the rate increases this week to help fund future construction.
This is expected to be the last round of steep increases to pay for infrastructure investments, including the remodel of the sewage-treatment plant in Santa Rita Park, a new city water-treatment plant below Lake Nighthorse, and a new recycling center.
In 2015, average water bills increased by 37 percent and sewer rates increased by 64 percent. In January, water rates on increased again by 10 percent and sewer rates by 25 percent, according to city estimates.
“We’re past the hard spots. Now, it is going to be business as usual,” Councilor Sweetie Marbury said.
Utility rate increases starting in 2018 are expected to be about 2 percent – to keep up with inflation.
Laundromat owners question why rates weren’t raised slowly over time in preparation for these large investments.
“The city seems to be making up lost ground in these big chunks,” said Richard Andrews, owner of Town Plaza and North Main laundries.
The city expected a 25 percent increase in sewer rates next year, but the increase was tempered by several factors.
The city received a $2.5 million state loan with a zero-rate interest from the Water Pollution Control Green Project, Assistant to the City Manager Mary Beth Miles said.
The interest rate on the remaining $59.7 million loans for the sewage-treatment plant is expected to be less than 2 percent.
The city also received about $4 million in grant funding. About half of this money will fund design and engineering and half will fund construction.
Customers at Town Plaza and North Main laundries saw rates go up 9 percent this month, but Andrews can’t pass along the full cost of the utility increases, because he would price out some people.
Jeff Urban, the owner of College Plaza Laundry, saw his water and sewer costs increase from 7 percent of his revenues in 2012 to 13 percent in 2015.
“It’s the pace and the consistency of the increases that have been egregious,” he said.
He installed 20 high-efficiency washing machines to help cut costs. However, he still expects to raise prices at the end of the year.
“It has a lot of impact on a lot of the folks who can least afford it,” he said, of the increases.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
