Price City Council approves plan to replace aging spring transmission line and adopts water rate increase

Price City Council on April 9 approved moving forward with design and funding applications for a replacement of the city's aging spring water transmission line and adopted an ordinance increasing culinary water rates, city staff said.

The council approved a motion to advance the spring water transmission line replacement project and to pursue funding from the Utah Division of Drinking Water and the Permanent Community Impact Board (CIB). The project would replace roughly 7 miles of an 11-mile pipeline that a February 2024 condition study found to be more than 95 years old in many sections and subject to repeated leaks, staff said. The work is estimated to cost between $12 million and $14 million and to take three to four years to complete, with most construction performed April through October to avoid winter months when the line is the city's sole drinking-water source.

The project's plan calls for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe, which engineers described as flexible and resistant to corrosion and impact and likely to have a century-class life span. City staff and consultants said the replacement will be staged so that the springs and hydraulic grade can be maintained during tie-ins and that most work will occur adjacent to the existing alignment where possible.

Why it matters: The transmission line carries spring water from the Skullfield/Colton area to the Colton Springs water treatment and storage system. Multiple presenters told the council that continued reliance on the existing pipe exposes Price City to water-supply interruptions and potential water-quality problems if the line fails.

Consultants and agency staff who testified at the public hearing framed the project as urgent. Janelle Brethwaite, management specialist with the Rural Water Association of Utah, said the funding picture has changed and that Price City must show rate stability and set-asides to qualify for the best loan/grant combinations; Brethwaite warned that the increases "it's gonna hurt. It's gonna have to increase." Marie Owens of Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services (A2S), who led the condition assessment, told the council the spring pipeline "is beyond its life capacity" and that delaying replacement would increase costs and public-health risk.

Russell Seeley, assistant director at the Utah Division of Drinking Water, called Price City's spring source "some of the cleanest water in the state" and said the transmission line investment would avoid a system-wide emergency similar to other regional failures.

Funding and rates: City staff said Price City will apply for a mix of loans and grants through the Division of Drinking Water, the CIB and other federal and state sources. To qualify for certain loan terms the city expects it will need to issue revenue bonds; debt service for those bonds would be covered by higher customer water rates. Staff presented a rate model showing a package of increases phased over three years; the first increase takes effect May 1, 2025. The materials and staff presentation showed an average residential bill moving from $32.76 to about $47.01 under the proposed first-step tariff (the council packet contains the detailed tiered rate tables). Staff said the model was built from 12 months of usage data and includes a target to begin setting aside funds for future capital replacement and bond reserve requirements.

Public comment and council questions: About two dozen residents and stakeholders spoke during the hearings. Speakers expressed strong support for replacing the line but raised concerns about the size of the near-term rate jump, the distributional effect on low-income households and small local businesses, and whether the city had explored secondary (nonpotable) irrigation systems to reduce treated-water demand. Rory Jones, a resident, asked what alternatives had been considered and whether departmental efficiencies had been reviewed; others, including Sharon Hansen speaking for the Carbon County Farm Bureau, urged caution for local farmers and small producers who rely on affordable water for irrigating produce.

City staff and consultants responded that they had pursued available grants and that federal/state grant funding is less available than in past years, leaving loans and revenue bonds as likely financing sources. Staff said the city would place debt service payments in restricted accounts and required reserves when bonds are issued, and that enterprise (water) fund accounting prevents routine transfers of water revenues into the general fund.

Council action and votes (high level): The council opened public hearings on both the transmission line replacement and the culinary water rate increase, heard public comment and then voted to approve advancing the spring transmission line replacement project to seek design and construction funding. The council subsequently adopted Ordinance 2025-002 establishing the new water rates and passed related resolutions on employee retirement contributions and city privacy/posting policies. Motions carried by voice vote with no roll-call tallies announced in the minutes.

What the council decided (formal actions): - Advance the spring water transmission line replacement project and pursue funding from the Utah Division of Drinking Water and the Permanent Community Impact Board (motion approved). - Adopted Ordinance No. 2025-002 establishing the revised culinary water rates (effective May 1, 2025) (motion approved). - Approved several administrative resolutions and the consent agenda (motions approved).

The next steps: Staff said engineers and funding agencies present at the hearing will continue design and funding discussions and that the city will return with additional public hearings and budget-level details for subsequent rate steps and project phases. The council packet and staff presentations contain the rate model and the February 2024 pipeline condition assessment cited at the hearing.

Ending: Council members and staff repeatedly framed the work as urgent but difficult: speakers who favored prompt replacement described it as necessary to avoid a catastrophic supply failure, while residents urged the council to minimize the financial burden on households and small businesses as the city moves to pay for the work.