For many years, Gilbert residents enjoyed having among the lowest utility rates in the Valley.
A 11.9% raise in rates in 2018 seemed a blip on the screen as the town had no rate increases in eight years.
The town was planning a massive reconstruction of the North Water Treatment Plant, which, after 25 years of service, was showing premature signs of aging from shoddy construction done during an era where the town had to take the low bid.
Plus, the need for additional treatment was growing as raw water came in dirtier while federal requirements were stepping up.
Then came COVID. The town paused plans on the North Water Treatment Plant and stopped disconnections temporarily. But in the pandemic’s wake, costs to the town for its utility services — water, wastewater, trash and recycling collection, and environmental compliance — spiraled out of control.
Town officials had to take more aggressive approaches to rates and warned residents that hikes were coming.
Still, the 2025 hikes, with large jumps in wastewater, trash and recycling pickup and water, caused great angst with residents.
Here is a look at how the town got here after COVID.
The town had paused disconnections during COVID, but in November 2020, it said it was prepared to resume normal utility service in January 2021.
The town finally broke ground on the North Water Treatment Plant reconstruction in March 2022, the state’s largest capital improvement project and the largest in town history.
Project managers informed council in December 2022 that construction inflation had increased the cost of the North Water Treatment Plant reconstruction from $457 million to $545 million, despite value engineering efforts to keep increases down.
Council then voted in February 2023 to increase wastewater and environmental compliance (stormwater) fees by $10.53 to shore up lagging fund balances and prepare for critical wastewater and stormwater infrastructure projects.
After increasing those fees, council members asked staff to bring them options to push an increase in water and environmental services (solid waste and recycling collection) until next year.
During the town’s November 2023 financial retreat, council learned it must consider in the coming weeks the best approach for covering large water utility rate hikes and how to address a shortfall in the general fund to cover its coming capital improvement projects.
Council opted in February 2024 for that phased approach to a water rate increase, with 50% of the increase coming in in April, 25% in 2025 and another 25%, after review, in 2026. Solid waste and recycling rates also are increased because of various cost pressures.
Gilbert launched a new utilities portal June 30. The town’s vendor for the old portal dropped support for it, necessitating the move. Though the new portal was supposed to have expanded capabilities, the rollout proved problematic for customers, adding to their anger over the rate hikes.
The public confronted council about the water rate increases during its Oct. 14 meeting, where the town first outlined some steps it is taking, including a water meter audit.
In light of public anger over water rates, council decided Oct. 28 to pause five “quality of life” projects for review, though they are paid for by different funds than utility bill revenues.
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 they meet our Civility Guidelines. 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).
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