Cave Creek council approves modified water assistance program

By Jeff Wendt
Mail

The Cave Creek Town Council approved a modified Lifeline Water Assistance Program Policy during the Oct. 6 meeting.

The council had heard this policy originally at the Sept. 1 meeting, when numbers presented to the council were under an older water policy from 2014.

According to Finance Services Director Bridget Black, the program provides qualified customers with a 50% reduction on water base rate and usage charges.

Users under the policy could use, depending on household size, between 5,280 gallons to 26,400 gallons per month in Cave Creek and 4,530 gallons to 22,650 gallons per month in the Desert Hills system.

Mayor Robert Morris asked that those numbers be looked at according to the new water tier usage that Cave Creek adopted earlier in the year.

Finance Director Cherie White and Black returned to the council with a new number for both Cave Creek and Desert Hills systems of 100 gallons per capita per day, which translates to 3,000 gallons to 15,000 gallons per month, depending on household size.

The 100 gallon per capita per day is based on 45 gallons per day of indoor use and 55 gallons of outdoor use. This was based on research done by staff, and it was based on EPA recommendations and Arizona Department of Water Resources recommendations.

Staff also proposed an additional exception for unusual circumstances. That would authorize the town manager to consider the circumstances of an individual case when deciding whether to approve an exception to a loss of reduced charges or program eligibility.

Six customers are currently involved in the program. The participants’ average water base and water usage fee for the July 2026 bill with the reduced rate is $39.41. Before the reduction, it would have been an average of $78.82 per participant.

Council member Tom McGuire commented how he hopes this policy will be helpful for everyone involved.

“It’s difficult to balance issues when some people are using more water than others,” McGuire said. “Some of us are equestrian, some of us are not, some of us do not have outside watering. I don’t think there’s any easy answers, so, I think this is probably the most rational way to go about it.”

Council member Cynthia Driskell commented on how this will be easier on the users under this program.

“I think it’s an improvement kind of clarifying and simplifying the process and the information that will go out to water users,” Driskell said.

Council member Dusty Rhoades was happy to see the exception added to the policy.

“I think it’s good policy and I also think it’s good policy that the town manager can make exceptions,” Rhoades said.

Jeff Wendt
Reporter | Phoenix/Cave Creek

jwendt@iniusa.org

Meet Jeff
Jeff Wendt started at Independent Newsmedia in January 2023, after 25 years working for Gannett and The Arizona Republic. Started as a high school sports scoretaker, worked up to reporting high school sports and then became an associate high school sports editor in 2002. Also worked in the Design Studio as a copy editor.

Community: Jeff serves on the Board of Elders at his local church.

Education: Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication

Random fact: Attended Game 2 of the 2001 World Series.

Hobbies: Playing video games (yes still the kid in me), watching reality TV, playing poker.