Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Rates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kanosh Council weighs water-rate overhaul as well project drags and costs rise
Summary
Council members debated shifting from a tiered block system to a base-plus-per-gallon model and discussed raising the base fee to build reserves after years of delays and rising costs on the town well project.
Kanosh — The Kanosh Town Council spent the largest portion of its Feb. 24 meeting debating changes to municipal water rates intended to build local revenue for maintenance and capital projects as the town's well project stalls.
Speaker 1 (Presiding official) said the well project has been delayed multiple times and that costs have increased substantially, noting, “we're 4 and a half years in. We've got a hole, we're out of money, we can't apply for money fast enough because they keep delaying the project and the cost keeps going up.” That chronology framed his proposal to reduce the base allocation of water from 10,000 gallons to 8,000 and to raise the base fee from $21 to $25, then charge a per-gallon fee beyond that with escalating tiers.
Supporters and critics on the council agreed the current system's block pricing can encourage use up to a tier boundary. Speaker 1 argued a per-gallon charge after a modest base better targets heavy users and helps build a “sinking fund” for future repairs and replacements. Speaker 7 cited recent monthly water receipts and summer averages to show the system currently brings in roughly $14,000 in peak months, which would be affected differently under the proposed structure.
Council members also discussed how the electric utility historically has subsidized water operations and the need to correct that cross-subsidy. Technical questions included whether the proposed second- and third-tier per-thousand-gallon rates were set too low relative to current rates; attendees asked staff to re-run the spreadsheets to show the effects on low-use and high-use customers.
No final rate ordinance was adopted. The council agreed to continue the item as an action item for the next meeting so members can review revised proposals and impact spreadsheets. Speaker 1 asked staff to bring a final proposal and the item was placed on the next month's agenda for continued consideration.
