Harrisburg manager presents FY20 budget, proposes 9.5% water and sewer rate increase

The Town of Harrisburg’s manager presented a proposed FY20 operating and capital budget that would keep the town’s combined tax rate at 35.5¢ per $100 valuation while asking utility customers to pay more for water and sewer service.

The manager said the budget relies on a 10‑year capital improvement plan and financial model to fund about $12.2 million in capital projects next year while maintaining stronger reserves. To address rising purchase and treatment costs and to cover needed capital work, staff recommended a 9.5% increase to both water and sewer rates that officials estimated would generate about $365,000 in extra water revenue and $335,000 for sewer annually. “The 9.5% rate increase applied to [the average] $54 monthly bill will be an additional $5.13, bringing [the] new bill amount just shy of $60 a month,” the manager said during the presentation.

Nut graf: The manager framed the rate request as part of planning for higher long‑term capital demands — including a proposed new 1,000,000‑gallon elevated water storage tank estimated at about $4.2 million — and noted that prior development and a modest tax adjustment last year had provided capacity to absorb many costs; the water and sewer increase is intended to cover persistent operational price pressures such as recurring city purchase and wastewater treatment cost hikes.

Staff also proposed changes to system development charges (SDCs) for new connections and a roughly 8% increase to the stormwater fee. Presentation slides shown to council included sample SDC meter charges: a standard 5/8‑inch meter’s water SDC shown moving from $33.50 to $35.40 and the sewer SDC shown moving from $22.20 to $24.50. Staff said these charges are set within state statute limits and typically fall to developers to fund capacity-related expansions.

Council discussion and public review: After the presentation council members asked clarifying questions about the capital projects and requested additional timeline indicators in project dashboards. Staff said the FY20 budget would be available to the public and that a formal public hearing and an adoption vote would occur at the June council meeting. The manager said no property tax increase was proposed in this budget, relying instead on projected ad valorem growth and revenue increases from the proposed utility and fee changes.

Ending: Staff described the budget as a high‑level presentation intended to give council and the public time to review details before the June public hearing; council members were invited to submit questions to staff in the interim.