Trending
ELKINS -- Elkins City Council approved on its second and final reading a 32.5% sewage rate increase for city residents Thursday night.
Residents will start to see an increase in their sewer bills in July.
A public hearing on the increase was held before the city council meeting Thursday, but no residents spoke.
The city's utilities counsel Bob Rodecker, and utilities accountant Michael Griffith were scheduled to attend Thursday's meeting to offer remarks on the necessity of the rate increase, but no residents spoke or asked questions during the public hearing, which therefore lasted only a moment.
No city officials discussed the rate increase during Thursday's council meeting before the vote was taken.
All council members present Thursday voted in favor of the rate increase. Absent from the meeting were First Ward Councilman Rob Chenoweth and Third Ward Councilman Chad Griggs.
The city's Sanitary Board, which manages the Elkins sewer system, recommended raising customers' sewer rates in two steps.
The first increase, of around 17.5 percent for most customers, will be reflected on bills mailed July 31.
A second increase, of around 15 percent for most customers, will be reflected on bills mailed Jan. 31, 2024.
After both increases, accounts using the average residential amount of water (3,400 gallons per month) would see an increase of $13.16 per month, or about 44 cents a day.
Last September, Elkins City Council approved a 35% water rate hike for city residents. The final 3% of that increase will go into effect this summer.
Elkins City Council passed a 21.5% sewer rate increase in November 2019.
Elkins water rates had last increased in December 2017. Under those increased rates, the cost for customers' first 2,000 gallons rose from $10 to $15.25 per 1,000 gallons, a 52.5 percent increase, and the cost for customers' next 3,000 gallons rose from $5.49 to $8.50 per 1,000 gallons, a 54.83 percent increase.
The 2017 increase was designed to help the city make the almost $116,000 monthly payments through 2055 to pay for the new $37 million water plant.