Decorah plans ordinance fix after billing software exposes irrigation-rate mismatch; three businesses affected

The city of Decorah will bring back an ordinance to align its water-rate billing table with an existing city code after a conversion to new utility-billing software revealed a discrepancy, staff told the council Monday.

City code section 13.20.03 states that water furnished to industrial consumers and nonprofit institutions for irrigation shall be charged at established rates up to 20,000 cubic feet; water furnished in excess of 20,000 cubic feet is charged at a quarterly rate of $1.40 per 100 cubic feet. The software’s legacy rate table had previously applied a $1.94 per 100-cubic-foot step at 6,000 cubic feet and, during conversion, the old software’s table treated the $1.40 figure differently.

Utility-billing staff told the council the mismatch affects three commercial/industrial customers. If the rate is changed to follow the ordinance language as currently written, staff estimated the city would see about $8,000 in additional revenue annually across the affected accounts.

Council directed staff to draft an ordinance to correct the rate table and to make the change effective July 1, 2025 (the new fiscal year). Council members also asked staff to notify the affected customers ahead of implementation and provide an explanation about the correction.

Why it matters The correction aligns billing practice with city code and ensures the water enterprise recovers costs consistently across users. Staff noted the city’s water-production and treatment costs do not differ by whether a user irrigates or uses water for other industrial purposes.

Ending — next steps Staff will prepare the ordinance to return to council, notify the three affected customers with an explanation and apply the corrected rates effective July 1, 2025. Council also confirmed there will be no other water-rate changes this fiscal year while the new meters rollout and usage analysis proceed.