Clive council proposes shift to fixed-variable water rates, holds general rate flat and raises irrigation 2%

City of Clive staff on Feb. 12 presented a planned overhaul of the city’s water-rate structure that would shift the billing model from a fully variable design to a blended fixed-and-variable approach, hold residential and commercial non‑irrigation water rates flat for FY2627 and increase irrigation rates by 2%.

The proposal, developed with PFM consultants and modeled on the AWWA M1 manual, would reallocate revenues into an availability (fixed) charge tied to meter size (staff cited a 30% fixed / 70% variable split in the recommended approach) to better match the city’s costs under its membership in Central Iowa Waterworks. “That's roughly about a million $900,000ish dollars of what CIWW charges us,” a staff presenter said while explaining the fixed-cost exposure; the presentation showed roughly $916,000 of fixed charges from Central Iowa Waterworks built into the analysis.

Staff explained the rationale as aligning customer bills with the underlying cost drivers from Central Iowa Waterworks, which now supplies a large portion of Clive’s water needs. “Only 70% of that expense is paid for the water you use and the 30% fixed,” staff said, describing why the city must mirror the blended structure rather than remain fully variable.

How the change affects customers: staff emphasized that most residential accounts (modeled at 5,000 gallons per month) would see bills that are equal to or lower than current typical monthly bills, while a small number of larger‑meter commercial customers would see higher monthly charges under the new availability-fee approach. Staff flagged that about 37–38 larger-meter customers would be the most affected and proposed targeted outreach to those accounts.

Walnut Creek Little League and other special-use meters drew specific attention. Staff said the league is served by a large 6‑inch meter used primarily for irrigation; staff recommended options such as installing a separate small meter for concession-building water use or crafting a formal agreement so that irrigation-only use is not billed in the same way as heavy commercial users. “So what we're looking at with Walnut Creek Little League is it's not really fair to have them charged as a 6 in when they're just using it for irrigation,” staff said.

Council and next steps: staff proposed a communications campaign beginning in March and stretching into June with multiple billing-cycle notices, one‑to‑one outreach to the handful of high‑impact customers, a centralized web hub and graphics to explain the three components of the bill (availability, usage and irrigation). Council members signaled general support (staff recorded nods at the workshop) and staff said the ordinance and public-notice item would return for formal action at the next meeting.

Staff also recommended holding the non‑irrigation rate flat for this reset year while implementing a 2% irrigation increase and continuing to monitor cash flows and the Central Iowa Waterworks wholesale budget in coming years.

The workshop also included parallel recommendations for sewer (proposed 4.5% increase) and storm-water (proposed 3% increase) to reflect wholesale and capital-cost pressures; staff emphasized these proposals would be included in subsequent formal budget action items.