In a nutshell
On Feb. 12, council unanimously approved the ordinance that will place a maximum charge on wastewater usage beginning with March’s bills. As the city is “transitioning from a sewer averaging method” for utility bills, according to a Feb. 7 post on the city’s website, the cap should “limit the impact” of bill increases for residents, City Manager Austin Bleess said in a Feb. 19 email.
In 2023, the percent of residents with one meter whose use was under 12,000 gallons ranged from 61%—in August—to 97%—in December—according to meeting documents.
“Any cap of the wastewater rates means a corresponding increase in water rates will be likely,” according to Feb. 12 meeting documents. No change to water rates has yet been proposed.
The caps are expected to result in a loss of $600,000 for the city’s utility fund, Bleess said.
How we got here
Council discussed water and sewer rates at its previous meeting Jan. 22.
The city’s latest Water and Wastewater Rate Study concluded the council will need to increase “rates and bill calculation methods” to fund the city’s operating costs, according to Feb. 12 meeting documents.
“A lot of the projects ... they're up three times as much as they were back in 2020,” Bleess said Feb. 12. “So the construction costs, the pipes, the labor and all that has really skyrocketed, and those prices have stabilized, which means they're flat-ish, but they're not going back down to where they were.”
On Jan. 22, council approved a proposal from Quiddity Engineering LLC to create a Water and Wastewater Master Plan. On Feb. 12, Bleess said water and wastewater data will be reviewed beginning in March to project rates for the next five years.
Quote of note
Jersey Village resident Dennis Petersen voiced concerns about the city’s wastewater rate study at the Feb. 12 meeting before council voted on the wastewater rate caps.
“What I think the problem is, in my opinion, is that the water rate study is asking us to raise too much money for the system,” Petersen said. “I would ask that the council consider going back and relooking at the water study to see if it's still reasonable.”
What they’re saying
Multiple City Council members expressed concerns about the measure.
“I think anything we're doing now honestly, it's kind of just a stopgap until we get to looking at data, because I think we're just trying to do something to alleviate some concerns,” council member Jennifer McCrea said. “But I don't personally necessarily feel like ... this is the correct long-term solution.”
Council member Sherri Sheppard—who originally served on the Jersey Village City Council from 2012-18, stepped down due to term limits and then was re-elected in 2021—said the council is having to correct for “sins of the past.”
“There were decisions made to postpone some of the capital improvements that should have been made that we're now dealing with,” Sheppard said. “I think we're doing a much better job of staying on top of things ... so that we don't find ourselves in that same situation in the next five years.”
