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Glenn Heights consultants outline rate scenarios to fund $75 million water and wastewater plan
Summary
City staff and consultant NewGen presented options that would raise residential water and wastewater rates roughly 10% a year (with modeled scenarios up to about 12%) through 2031 to finance a $75 million capital plan; council members raised concerns about impacts on retirees and the city's long wastewater contract obligations.
City Manager Cliff Blackwell and consultant Eric Felthouse of NewGen Strategies & Solutions presented a utility‑rate study that models multi‑year increases to fund a proposed $75 million capital improvement program and cover rising wholesale costs.
"These rates will provide funding for a $75,000,000 CIP, capital improvement plan," Felthouse told the council, and he outlined funding that assumes about $64 million of new debt, roughly $4.5 million in utility cash, a $3 million EPA grant and approximately $3.8–4.0 million in impact fees. The study includes an option to remove the residential irrigation minimum charge, a 25% (1.25) differential between commercial and residential volumetric rates and aligning RV‑park accounts with commercial classes.
Felthouse said modeled outcomes include roughly 10% annual increases to a typical residential bill and in some scenarios increases of about 12% per year through 2031. He warned the council that eliminating the irrigation base would shift approximately $450,000 to other rate payers and emphasized the tradeoffs between issuing debt and preserving cash.
Council members questioned how the changes would affect average homeowners and vulnerable households. One council member warned the proposed path ‘‘looks like it might price [some retirees] out of their home’’ if increases compound over several years. Felthouse and Blackwell said the city can phase projects and adjust the debt/cash mix; they also flagged grant‑seeking, impact fees and staging of bond issues as levers that could change the net rate impact.
Council discussion also focused on wholesale wastewater costs and the city’s long‑standing contract with the regional treatment authority. Mayor Sonya A. Brown said the wastewater contract has driven much of the higher sewage cost and that city staff have explored renegotiation. City Manager Blackwell and staff noted the contract was entered decades ago and includes ongoing debt obligations that the city must cover while the regional authority has outstanding debt; the contract structure limits how quickly the city can reduce that component of the bill.
No vote was taken; the presentation will return for further deliberation and the council requested additional comparisons and scenarios before any formal rate decision.
