September 6, 2022 |
The need to raise water rates to cover the real cost of collecting, treating and delivering water to taps will be discussed during a city council work session tonight.
Carl Brown, a water rate specialist hired by the city to analyze the system in Rawlins, will discuss his findings and recommendations included in recent 107-page report.
After analyzing the city’s system, Brown notes that during the driest months of 2020 and again this year, the reduced flows from the springs together with what’s produced at the Nugget wells could not keep up with in-town demand. Rates will have to increase soon to cover the additional cost of purchasing and installing the new collection system at the springs.
Brown will also recommend that the water system operate more like a business in the way that it calculates costs — from water main repairs to meter connects and reconnects, including mileage, wages, insurance, wear and tear on vehicles — and recover those costs with fees.
The measuring stick used nationally puts the cost of affordable water at one percent or less of income for the cost of water service. According to Brown’s analysis, Rawlins residents are paying about half the national average or 0.51 percent, for 5,000 gallons of water at the current rate. The rate to be proposed tonight is 0.71 percent, a quarter-percent lower than the national average but an increase.
Tonight’s work session begins at 6 p.m. It will be broadcast on cable television and online.
Pictured above: File photo of Rawlins City Hall. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
