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Gunnison adopts resolution clarifying sewer billing for large agricultural users
Summary
The city adopted Resolution 2025‑03 to use culinary water usage as a reasonable proxy for sewer billing while allowing an exception process for large agricultural operations that use much more water that doesn't return to the sewer system.
Gunnison City Council adopted Resolution 2025‑03 at its Feb. 5 meeting to clarify how sewer fees will be calculated for agricultural users.
Under the adopted language, “the number of gallons for sewer rate calculation purposes shall be equal to the monthly culinary gallons used. Culinary gallons data is used as a reasonable approximation of proportional sewer use and not actual sewer system impacts,” a staff member told the council during the presentation. The resolution adds an administrative footnote and establishes a process for working with large agricultural operations (such as feedlots and dairy farms) whose water use does not proportionally return to the sewer system.
Staff said the resolution allows the city to work with such operations to determine a reasonable monthly sewer rate based on identifiable sewer use and the adopted fee schedule, and that any set agriculture use rate shall be revisited annually. Council members discussed an example provided by the Pickett family, who reviewed their usage and negotiated an adjusted monthly calculation that reduced their fee compared with a straight culinary‑use proxy.
The council voted to approve Resolution 2025‑03. Councilmembers noted the policy is intended to provide a fair, administrable method for billing while preserving the ability to adjust rates for operations with atypical return flows to the sewer system.
