Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sanitary Sewer Rates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Waukesha staff recommend no 2025 increase to sanitary sewer rates, approve modest connection and pretreatment fee updates
Summary
City staff and consultant Ehlers recommended holding sanitary sewer rates at 0% for 2025 after a cost-of-service review, while adopting updated connection charges and pretreatment sampling fees tied to rising lab costs; the board approved the recommendations.
John Cameron of municipal advisor Ehlers told the Waukesha City board the utility’s 2025 cost-of-service and long-range cash-flow analysis supports holding sanitary sewer rates steady for next year. "We're still recommending staying the course and staying on track with 0% rate increase for 2025," Cameron said, citing a planned $650,000 addition to the equipment replacement fund and a deliberate, temporary drawdown of reserves as part of the long-range plan.
Cameron reported an approximate 4.5% decline in residential billable sewer volume over the last 12 months and a roughly 3% change across all customer classes versus previous projections. He attributed lower volumes largely to long-term conservation trends — more efficient fixtures and smaller household sizes — and the city’s water-rate structure that intentionally curbs consumption, which lowers sewer flows.
Joe Chiro from the finance department explained how interest income and pooled cash are tracked: sewer funds are accounted for as a separate fund within the city’s pooled cash structure and interest is allocated monthly to the sewer fund.
After questions from council members about volume measurements and reserve placement, the board moved to forward the recommended 0% rate change to the full council; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
In related action, staff presented an updated sanitary sewer connection-charge schedule that converts the buy-in to current dollars based on meter size. The presentation showed a 2.5-inch example rising from $2,421 to $2,573 (about a $151 increase) and an overall recommended change of roughly 6.25% across connection classes; the board approved the revised schedule by voice vote.
The board also reviewed a pretreatment-program fee update for industrial users, led by Tim from the Clean Water Plant. Tim said annual permit fees would remain the same but sampling and analytical charges will rise to reflect higher contract-lab costs. Staff recommended a 5% projected increase in lab fees plus a 10% city markup to cover handling, shipping and staff time — the combined approach produced sample analytical fees such as a cited $13.86 figure that includes the markup. Tim said the pretreatment division also performs in-house analyses (BOD, TSS, total phosphorus) and that increases reflect both contract-lab inflation and added program costs.
Board members asked whether Waukesha’s fees are high relative to neighboring cities; staff noted neighboring permit fees vary widely and that contract-lab sampling fees are not consistently available for direct comparison. The board voted to adopt the pretreatment fee updates.
The board’s actions will be reflected in adopted fee schedules and forwarded materials for implementation by city staff.
