Gilbert residents can expect to pay an average of $17 more on the water portion of their town utility bills starting next April if town council approves a proposed rate increase in February.
But the water rate hikes won’t end there. The same average will go up another $13 in 2025 and at least $16 in 2026 under the plan council endorsed at its Nov. 28 meeting. The water portion of residents’ bills currently averages $34, according to the town, though it varies according to consumption.
To accomplish a gradual increase in the bills, rather than an all-at-one-time $44 average increase, Gilbert will issue $80 million in bonds and pay an estimated $43 million in interest over 20 years.
Council voted 4-3 in favor of the “cash/bond gradual” option over the cash-funded option. Councilmembers Yung Koprowski, Bobbi Buchli, Scott Anderson and Vice Mayor Kathy Tilque voted in favor of the cash/bond gradual option.
The vote technically is not for the increase, but to approve a notice of intent to increase rates. However, it sets the course for the council, which will consider the rate increase at its Feb. 6 meeting.
The town also will publish a notice of intent to increase its solid waste and recycling rates for both commercial and residential collections. The most commonly seen hike will be $8.52 on residential service of 90-gallon cans.
Both funds are considered “enterprise funds” that are meant to be self-sustaining, paid for only by rate collection from customers and not supporting any other town function.
Assistant Public Works Director Eric Braun urged council to act on the need to provide high-quality service in those areas despite the steep hike.
“There are outside forces acting on our ability to provide clean, reliable water service to our residents,” he said. “These forces could be pollution affecting our water supply, or drought, decreasing the amount of water we have. Another force acting on us is simply the passage of time and how infrastructure wears out over time. It needs to be in place.”
He said three factors are driving the need for an increase: the need for water resource resiliency, skyrocketing construction costs and a new awareness of additional infrastructure needs.
“We are not alone in these cost pressures, either,” Braun said. “Every city in the Valley is in a similar situation as we are. How they choose to deal with their pressures is their choice. We prefer to meet these challenges head on, not pass them to our successors.”
One factor in the increase request is the need to catch up with market forces that have been acting outside of the town's control over the past 10 years. That includes a 55% increase in construction costs over the past three years.
Another factor is the need to comply with new Environmental Protection Agency requirements, specifically the lead copper rule, to ensure that the town's drinking water system is free from any types that could leach lead into the water.
Additionally, there have been recent water system failures and infrastructure issues that have required extensive repairs and increased costs.
The rate increases will fund the necessary investments in infrastructure, maintenance and operations to ensure the continued provision of high-quality water services to the community, Braun said.
The council, like the town’s Public Works Advisory Board, was divided on the best approach to handling the increase. The board ultimately recommended the cash/bond gradual option as well.
Buchli, for example, said she preferred the gradual increases for the residents, though she said the idea of staying out of debt also appealed to her.
Koprowski, however, said the debt would be appropriate in this instance.
“Normally we want to try to avoid debt at all costs, but in this circumstance with the North Water Treatment Plant — which is the largest capital improvement project I believe in the state right now for a water project — that is, I think, a special circumstance for a project,” she said. “And it's going to serve the community for 50 years or more. So I have a hard time increasing the rates all at once when that really should be probably spread out. … It merits bonding.”
Koprowski noted that the town’s accelerated well-digging project, in which its original plans for new wells to be dug over 10 years has been compressed into two years as a means of insurance against Colorado River shortages, is another reason why some bonding is a good option.
Tilque said a big rate increase would affect not only residents but businesses and noted that when it comes to the additional debt, Gilbert has a track record of paying off its debt early.
But Mayor Brigette Peterson did express a concern about taking on additional debt and reminded the others that water rates will be reviewed again and another hike could be added to the one scheduled that year.
“I would rather face it at one time,” she said.
Peterson joined Jim Torgeson and Chuck Bongiovanni in voting in dissent as they preferred the cash-funded option.
Solid waste and recycling also are facing market forces driving up the town’s costs to supply services, including the increased cost of parts and supplies for the aging fleet of trucks used for waste collection. The price of new trucks has risen by nearly 50% in the past couple of years, Braun said.
Additionally, the repair and replacement fund for the fleet is nearly empty, making it necessary to invest in new vehicles to maintain the level of service.
Another factor is the increased volume of trash and recyclable material being generated by the community, which has led to higher disposal costs. The cost of dumping material at the landfill has increased by 10% over the past four years.
“Clearly an investment is needed in order to meet the level of service that our community expects,” Braun said. “Our expenses are far exceeding our revenues, and our solid waste and recycling funds are approaching empty, but our rate proposal helps bring them into balance.”
Council also approved a $70,000 contingency fund expense so that it could pay for a more robust information campaign to let the public know of the increases and its reasons. That campaign will include an open house scheduled for Jan. 24.
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here