Centerville council approves Water Worth subscription for water rate modeling

The Centerville City Council voted on Sept. 2, 2025, to approve a three‑year subscription to Water Worth’s terms of service and authorized city staff to implement the plan and begin modeling for water rate design. The contract language in the council packet allows the city to cancel the subscription at any time and provides that, upon termination, the city would be reimbursed pro rata for unused years at 75 percent of the remaining balance.

City staff said the primary purpose of the subscription is a rate design and continuous financial‑modeling capability. A city staff member said the model will be used to produce a traditional rate study and ongoing scenarios and that timeline to build and model the city’s data will depend on how quickly the city provides requested information; staff estimated a likely completion window of three to six months and said results should be available before the next budget cycle.

Council members asked about the city’s broader use of software tools and whether other subscriptions have been adopted but not used. Staff reported regular review of software subscriptions and gave an example of a contract‑management product that was evaluated and then discontinued because staff implemented an acceptable spreadsheet process. Council members also asked whether grant opportunities would still be pursued; staff said pursuing grants and external funding would continue and that Water Worth’s tools include capacity to model grant inputs.

A council member moved approval and the motion was seconded. The council approved the motion by roll call; the meeting record shows aye votes and indicates Councilman Plummer registered his vote via chat. The council directed staff to return with the model’s findings and rate recommendations once the consultant completes the work.