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Council told hydrant charge will rise as water-district calculation increases city’s bill 30%
Summary
Manager told the council a mandatory water-district calculation that funds hydrant availability will raise the city’s hydrant line roughly 30%, moving the budget figure from about $423,002 to $548,200; councilors noted the charge is statutory and is not usage-based.
Manager (S5) presented Tab 12 and told councilors the water/hydrant line will increase substantially because the water district adopted a roughly 30% rate increase that is applied according to a statutory calculation. "You'll notice that this is over expended right now at 115% ... this basically ends up calculating out based on what we've seen in that 1st quarter, to 548,200," S5 said.
Councilors clarified this payment is not direct usage for the city but a mandated calculation and observed that taxpayers ultimately pay the charge whether it sits in the water district budget or the municipal one. S5 said the requirement is state‑mandated and intended to stabilize relationships between municipalities and water districts.
The council accepted that the line must reflect the district’s charge but flagged the increase for public communication given its size on the city’s budget. Staff will include this item in the revenue/expense review tomorrow and keep the council informed about possible mitigations.
