The city of Plano announced a 10 percent rate increase in September for its water and sewer services. Officials said the change was a result of rate increases approved by the North Texas Municipal Water District at the time.

NTMWD officials said additional money generated by the rates from its 13 member cities is used to help fund major projects to supplement the rest of the district’s growing service area.

During budget workshops in the fall, city officials discussed cost-effective ways to also fund several rehabilitation and expansion projects in order to improve its aging water and sewer systems. The City Council approved the fiscal year 2015-16 budget Sept. 14 to include revenue bond sales totaling about $36 million for water and drainage system projects. This will be the first time the city of Plano has issued bonds for its water and sewer projects since 1993, according to staff.

City leaders are also trying to balance its water revenue with citywide conservation efforts. Plano has paid a set rate for 26.7 billion gallons of water annually since 2001 when severe drought led to a usage peak and has not reached that mark since, according to NTMWD annual reports.

During the 2014-15 water year, which ended July 31, Plano used 17.9 billion gallons of water. The NTMWD facilitated a meeting in December among its member cities to discuss board member appointment terms, but no meetings have been scheduled to discuss the water supply contract. The district anticipates the member cities will want to come together to discuss the supply contract sometime this year.