Lancaster engineering staff present 2025 water and wastewater rate study; council asks for consolidated financial overview

Environmental Engineer Denise Crews presented the city’s 2025 water and wastewater rate study to the Lancaster City Council on Aug. 25, outlining a multi-year approach intended to fund asset management and preventative maintenance while avoiding a large, sudden increase for customers.

Crews said the original plan — which projected a 3% increase for 2026 and 2027 — “is still sufficient,” and the updated proposal would extend the plan with additional small increases in later years to cover base-rate costs and backlog needs. She told council the division is seeking roughly $2 million a year for deferred asset management and maintenance work.

Crews described three billing philosophies under consideration — a declining rate (lower per-unit cost for high-volume users), a flat rate, and an increasing rate that charges more per unit as consumption rises — and said staff recommends a phased transition from the current declining-rate structure toward a flat-rate approach. She said the phase-in would be structured so residential bills would not increase immediately and, overall, would generate the revenue identified in the study.

Crews also noted the city’s use of a summer average meter reading for wastewater billing to avoid penalizing customers for increased outdoor summer water use and explained that fewer than 100 non-metered accounts (mainly county subdivisions) are billed on estimated usage; industrial customers who meter themselves have their meters read by the city to confirm accuracy.

She told council the proposed legislation will go through three readings; if passed as drafted, the legislation would be effective Sept. 22, 2025, with rate changes taking effect Jan. 1, 2026.

President Porter asked that staff prepare “a single, easy-to-understand document that consolidates all the financial information, including rates, income and debt,” so both council and the public can see the full financial picture for the North Water Plant and related infrastructure. Crews agreed to provide a summary and noted that the full rate study includes capital plans and debt-service projections.

The council received the presentation and asked follow-up questions about billing, non-metered accounts, and comparison to surrounding jurisdictions; no final vote on rate legislation occurred at this meeting.