Westlake residents to see 5% hike on water bill

The residents of Westlake will see a 5% increase in water and wastewater costs, which will take effect Oct. 1.

Westlake City Council passed the increase for the next five years during a meeting in late August, but will have the ability to look at rates based on the costs passed down by the city of Fort Worth for water.

Based on the new rates, residential customers with an average of 8,000 gallons of water usage will pay $255.72 a month compared to $243.53 this year. Residential customers with 18,000 gallons of water usage will pay $397.89 a month, which is about $18 more than this fiscal year, based on documents from the town.

Deputy Town Manager Jarrod Greenwood said the city has about 800 customers for water and 500 sewer connections. The base rate for Westlake is higher for residents compared to nearby towns of Keller and Southlake.

“When we add more users, it will start impacting the base rate,” Greenwood said. “Naturally, you’re going to see the big difference in municipalities in the base rate. The volume rate isn’t as much. The water bill is so much ... when you look at the amount used in Westlake, it is twice the amount of our nearest neighbor, and that [amount] is twice as much as the state average. So, we are four times the state average.”

Commercial customers will also see proportional increases in their base charges dependent on meter size as well as increases in the cost per thousand gallons of water and wastewater.

All customers will see the rate change on their November bills.