Chandler Council OKs 15% for water and wastewater, other utility hikes

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

A 5-2 vote was the final step in one of the larger all-at-once utility rate hikes for Chandler residents in recent memory.

Council members Jane Poston and Matt Orlando voted against the hike at the regular Jan. 9 meeting. The vote comes more than six months after the city’s budget team first brought potential increase choices to council in a work session.

The increases that will go into effect March 2 are 15% for water and wastewater customers, 18% for reclaimed water and 6% for all residential solid waste.

The vote also comes at the end of a process that involved a cost-of-service assessment, three council work sessions and public input gathered using several methods.

By and large, the negative feedback on the increases was minimal.

Mayor Kevin Hartke said he wants staff and council to be even more forward-thinking about the need for annual reviews of rates. Council and staff have been reviewing utility rates every two years.

“I think there’s a tale of cities,” Hartke said, referring to other Valley municipalities drawing complaints from huge catch-up increases. “We don’t want to get ourselves into a situation where we have such a huge hole to dig out that we will be having 100% or large increases, rather than this.”

Staff has said, in several work sessions, that rate increases are needed to fund debt service costs related to new and expanded water and wastewater capital projects. One example is the Price Road sewer relining and rehab project, which costs $43.6 million.

Utility rate increases are being implemented “across the board,” as chosen by council, so the rate increase will be the same for large industrial users as it will be for single-family homeowners or multifamily housing.

Orlando said he’s looking forward to getting more ongoing capital cost information as part of each year’s capital improvement discussions. He also said he agrees with Hartke and others who pointed out a cost-of-service study must be done more often than the five-year intervals staff has been using, per its policy.

“There’s nothing stating it can’t be more often,” Budget Director Matt Dunbar told council, pointing out a cost-of-service is set to begin in early July of this year.

Council member Jane Poston said her position hasn’t changed from her opposition to the new rate plan she voiced during a late-autumn work session.

“The increases should all be no more than cost-of-service,” Poston told Independent Newsmedia. “This is going to impact businesses and residents. We have to help them out, where we can.”

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as those meet our  Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.