Council agrees to advertise new water and sewer rate structure for public hearing

City staff presented a Stantec study proposing to replace the previously adopted 5% across-the-board utility increase with a revised structure that increases the fixed readiness-to-serve charge and adjusts volume tiers. The goal, staff said, is to align fixed charges with the cost to provide service while using tier adjustments to promote conservation and fairness across customer types.

"We are achieving the same amount of revenue," Tenney said, explaining that the combination of higher base charges and tier adjustments would generate roughly the same additional revenue but distribute increases differently across customers. Richard Moulton, utilities director, said the city’s fixed base charges are low versus peer utilities and that raising the base will help match cost-to-serve. Staff said 72.9% of bills fall in the proposed 4,000-gallon range and those customers would see an average monthly increase of about $5.22 (roughly 4.9%).

Councilors asked staff to include clear comparative materials in mailing notices showing how Fort Myers ranks with neighboring utilities, and several members urged careful public outreach. Council did not adopt the ordinance at the workshop; the majority supported staff’s recommendation to proceed with advertising the ordinance and scheduling a public hearing so ratepayers can comment.