Citizen Portal
Sign In

Committee forwards 3.5% wastewater-rate increase recommendation to full board to match wholesale hike

Budget Rate Committee, Board of Lights and Water · December 8, 2025

Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts

Subscribe
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Staff reported a 3.5% wholesale wastewater cost increase effective Jan. 1 and asked the committee to match that increase at retail; the committee voted to forward the roughly 3.5% retail recommendation to the full Board of Lights and Water.

Speaker 4, a staff member, reported that wholesale wastewater costs will increase by about 3.5% effective Jan. 1 and asked the committee to consider a matching retail increase. "There is a 3 and a half percent increase, and we would ask the board to consider a match for the retail percentage increase as well," Speaker 4 said.

Committee members emphasized that sewer work is capital intensive, noting aging lines, failing pumps and costly replacement work. Speaker 1 and Speaker 3 described much of the city’s sewer lines as 50–60 years old and stressed the need for increased capital spending to replace failing infrastructure.

Speaker 2 moved to pass staff’s wastewater recommendations (roughly 3.5% increase) to the full board; Speaker 1 seconded, and the committee voted by hand/voice to forward the recommendation. The full board will next consider the retail wastewater-rate proposal.