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Resident tells Dubuque council utility rate hikes strain seniors and fixed‑income households
Summary
A resident at the Dec. 16 meeting told the council sewer and water rates rose 8.87% and asked for justification, saying fixed‑income seniors face hardship; council did not provide a substantive response during the public input period.
During public input at the Dec. 16 council meeting, resident Clark Sloes (2925 Burlington Street) urged the council to justify recent water and sewer rate increases and to explain why increases exceed commonly cited inflation measures.
Sloes said the combined sewer and water rates rose 8.87% and contrasted that with a 5.16% combined increase he observed for energy providers such as Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy. He said Social Security cost‑of‑living increases (about 2.5% cited) and rising costs for insurance and medications make utility increases especially burdensome for seniors on fixed incomes. "If that's gonna happen year after year, it's not really sustainable for senior citizens," Sloes told the council.
Sloes requested that the council provide a justification if proposed increases exceed the Consumer Price Index and said he intended to raise the question again at the public hearings scheduled in April. The mayor and city staff thanked him for his comments; no immediate staff response or data presentation on rate drivers was provided in the public input segment.
The comment was recorded during the public input portion of the meeting; city staff and council members later discussed city budgets in other agenda items but did not produce a detailed rate justification during this session.
