Terry Lowe, the City of Buckeye’s water resources director, told an outreach meeting that the city is proposing a five‑year water and sewer rate plan designed to restore reserves and fund long‑deferred asset maintenance.

"This committee was stood up by mayor and council," Lowe said, describing the Water Rates Committee’s role in shaping recommendations. He said the utility has not adopted new rates since 2013 and that the water and wastewater utilities operate as enterprise funds that receive no tax revenue: "We do not receive any tax revenue, property tax, sales tax, food tax, any of that type of stuff does not come to the utilities."

Lowe said the proposed changes include a five‑year multiyear adoption, restructuring base charges so they are tied to meter size, elimination of an existing $3 flat fee, and a phased "gradualism" approach to build toward a market‑recommended asset reinvestment level. He described the utility’s asset portfolio as roughly $1 billion and said a common rule of thumb is to reinvest about 2 percent of asset value annually (about $20 million) to sustain system reliability; Buckeye has not been meeting that target.

Why it matters: Lowe and members of the Water Rates Committee framed the proposal as a response to sustained cost increases and depleted reserves. The city’s model incorporated forecasted commodity and service cost increases (Lowe cited an expected APS electricity increase and higher health‑care and chemical costs) and aimed to avoid a sudden, single‑year spike in customer bills by phasing investments over five years.

Key features and sample impacts
- Multiyear schedule: a five‑year adoption to provide predictability for customers and the utility.
- Base charges by meter size: staff proposed standardizing base rates to reflect meter capacity; the city historically used a standard 1‑inch residential base but has some ¾‑inch meters in certain neighborhoods.
- Eliminate $3 flat fee: staff said the flat fee was folded into rate design and can be removed.
- Gradualism funding path: Lowe said the plan steps increases so the utility gradually raises reinvestment toward the 2 percent target rather than trying to recover the entire shortfall at once.

Lowe presented sample bills showing most residential customers (about 90 percent) fall within the 0–6,000 gallon per month tier. He said a typical 1‑inch residential customer using 6,000 gallons would see a bill of about $62 in the first year under the proposal and that sample combined water and sewer increases were in the roughly $8–$15 range depending on usage. Year‑over‑year increases shown in the presentation included an initial small decrease for some customers followed by increases of about 9.5 percent for a couple of years, then 9 percent and about 8 percent in later years as part of the phased approach.

Sewer: Lowe said staff recommends removing the residential volumetric sewer charge and replacing that element with a flat residential sewer fee, reflecting staff’s assessment that household discharge is relatively steady; commercial customers would retain volumetric sewer charges.

Comparisons and peer review: The Water Rates Committee reviewed neighboring West Valley utilities (Surprise, Liberty, Goodyear). Lowe emphasized Buckeye’s system is groundwater‑sourced and more distributed, with more smaller wells and more treatment and storage sites. That configuration, he said, increases per‑unit operating and maintenance costs compared with systems that have fewer, larger assets.

Public questions and clarifications
Residents questioned several items during the Q&A period. On customer counts, staff clarified that the city’s water system serves about 33,000 connections while other parts of Buckeye are served by private providers (EPCOR and Arizona Water) or private wells. In response to a question about a large planned data center, Lowe said the developer’s agreement is expressed as one acre‑foot of water per acre per year; he noted large facilities would fall into the highest volumetric tier and pay the tiered volumetric rates plus a base charge.

On growth and economies of scale, residents asked why rapid population growth had not reduced per‑unit costs. Lowe said growth generates revenue but does not automatically eliminate the need to maintain and rehabilitate many dispersed assets; he said the utility has not been funding the recommended reinvestment level since 2013 and that commodity and equipment costs have risen significantly.

On water supply and recharge, Lowe described the Certificate of Assured Water Supply process and the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD): subdivisions are assigned assured‑supply determinations and CAGRD purchases and places water back in managed basins to offset groundwater withdrawals. He acknowledged limits and gaps in how various development types (for example, some build‑to‑rent or commercial projects) are addressed under current law.

Next steps: Lowe said staff will incorporate public feedback, present proposals to council, seek a notice of intent in January to begin a 60‑day public comment period, and aim for council adoption in April with new rates going live in May if adopted.

Attribution: Direct quotes and technical explanations in this article are attributed to Terry Lowe, Water Resources Director, and to residents who asked questions during the public Q&A. Other named participants at the meeting included WRC members (chair Adam, Mike, Vicky), Deputy Director Solis, Business Manager Parker, finance committee member Gary and others; those individuals provided background, support and answers during the outreach event.

Ending: Staff left materials and a comment form at the meeting and encouraged residents to submit additional feedback during the public comment period leading up to the council process.