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St. Charles Parish committee reviews proposed water-rate changes, meter fees and deposits
Summary
A legislative committee heard a detailed presentation on Dec. 2 about proposed amendments to water billing that would tie installation charges to procurement bid costs, raise some fees and adjust billing tiers; the ordinance will be introduced with clarifying language and returned to council for amendment.
A legislative committee of St. Charles Parish on Dec. 2 reviewed proposed changes to water billing that would tie meter installation charges to actual procurement bids, update billing tiers and adjust several fees, but committee members deferred a final vote and agreed to introduce the ordinance with clarifying language at the next council meeting.
The proposed ordinance (file 20240407) would: (1) make meter installation charges equal the cost listed in the parish's automated water meter bid as published by the St. Charles Parish procurement office (with those meter installation charges adjusted biannually); (2) update residential billing tiers (moving the lowest tier from 0'to 6,000 gallons to 0'to 8,000 gallons); (3) raise the reconnection fee from $30 to $50; and (4) revise meter deposit methodology (the department ultimately recommended a single updated flat deposit rather than an annually variable deposit tied to CPI).
Why it matters: the changes are intended to reduce bad debt, make new-service meter installation charges reflect current costs, and ease some monthly bills for a subset of residential customers by expanding the lowest rate tier.
The Department of Water Works told the committee that…
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