County staff told the Regional Wastewater Advisory Committee that Pima County currently relies on third‑party water providers (primarily Tucson Water) to bill wastewater customers and pays roughly $4.3 million per year for that service. Staff said Tucson Water has informed the county of a planned rate increase of about 127%, which staff estimated would add roughly $5.5 million — increasing the county’s cost for billing to around $10 million annually.

Staff said the county will evaluate multiple options in response: negotiating the proposed increase with Tucson Water, assessing whether to move billing back in‑house (the county last billed directly more than a decade ago), or exploring alternate billing arrangements. Moving to in‑house billing would require purchasing software and building internal customer‑service and billing capacity; staff said such an effort would take time and will be analyzed in greater detail before any decision.

Committee members were briefed on the mechanics of current billing arrangements: for larger water providers (Tucson Water, Metro, Oro Valley, Marana, Green Valley), those entities bill customers and remit wastewater revenues; small 'mom‑and‑pop' water companies (estimated at ~30,000 customers across the county) are handled differently and have higher delinquency rates because those entities cannot enforce water shutoffs.

What’s next: staff said they will prepare options and bring the issue back to the committee — likely beginning with the finance subcommittee — to determine a path forward and timing for any transition.