Proposed new fee to pay for Harquahala water going before Queen Creek council

The Queen Creek Town Council is expected to take action on a proposed new water resource fee to pay for the town’s purchases of Harquahala groundwater and the infrastructure needed to bring it to town.

The council will be holding a public hearing and possibly a vote on the fee when it meets on Nov. 18. If council approves the new fee, it will become effective on Jan. 27, with the first bill reflecting the fee on March 9.

The proposed new water resource fee would replace the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District assessment on customer property tax bills, including the amount the town has been offsetting for its water customers since 2018.

If passed, the new water resource fee would start at $3.07 per 1,000 gallons of water, based on metered use. Increases to the fee would be phased in incrementally and the council would have to approve an increase each year for at least the first six years of the new fee.

The proposal also includes a credit based on the water the town receives back through the wastewater system to offset groundwater pumping. The proposed credits would be given to residents who have combined water and wastewater town utility accounts.

Under the proposal, a residential customer with a combined account who uses 10,000 gallons of water a month would have a new water resource fee of $30.71, minus the effluent credit for a total of $18.42 in the first year. Combined with a monthly $39.44 water delivery fee, the total monthly bill would be $57.73.

Customers who use 10,000 gallons a month but only have a water account would not get the effluent credit. For them, the total monthly bill with the water delivery fee, the new water resource fee of $30.71 in year one, and no credit would be $70.15 a month.

Of the town’s 42,500 water utility accounts, 78% will be paying an additional $40 or less per month with the new fee. About 18,500 accounts will see increases of no more than $20 per month, according to town documents.

Last month, the council initiated work on an intergovernmental agreement that would transfer the irrigation accounts of about 500 customers to the Queen Creek Irrigation District.

For those customers, the proposed new water resource fee would apply only to potable water delivery and not irrigation.

The new water resource fee will go toward paying for the 1.7 million acre-feet of Harquahala basin water that the town purchased in 2025 for a total of $285 million. An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre in 1 foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons.

The fee will also pay for the millions of dollars needed to get the water out of the basin and move it to the Central Arizona Project canal that will deliver the water.

The council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Community Chambers, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.