Manvel residents will see their monthly utility bills increase by an average of $5.50 starting in November after City Council unanimously approved the first reading of new water and wastewater rates at its Sept. 8 meeting.
What you need to know
The $5.50 increase, which is a 4.5% hike, is calculated for a single-family household that uses 7,500 gallons per month on average, according to city documents.
Under the ordinance, residential base connection fees remain frozen at $35.58 for water and $42.70 for sewer for the first 2,000 gallons. However, volumetric usage fees for both water and sewer above that 2,000-gallon threshold will rise from $3.34 to $4.48 per 1,000 gallons, according to city documents.
Why now?
Beyond offsetting inflation, city officials said the rate adjustment is necessary to end annual general fund transfers that previously covered shortfalls in the utility department.
“The problem was that for many years [the] general fund was subsidizing the utilities—sometimes as much as $800,000 a year going from general fund over to utilities," City Manager Dan Johnson said. "So council realized wisely that, ‘Hey, this fund is supposed to pay for itself.’"
The background
Following a 2022 study by Freese & Nichols, a national engineering and consulting firm, the city originally presented an option that would have increased rates by nearly $12 a month, or a nearly 10% rate hike, according to city documents.
City Council members voiced concerns in prior budget discussions that a nearly 10% increase was too high for residents, which caused city staff to develop the current option to soften the financial blow.
Council chose to freeze residential base connection fees, while also shifting a larger portion of the cost increase to commercial users, who face an 11.7% increase, according to city documents.
"Costs are increasing for testing, for materials, for electricity, for insurance—everything's increasing,” Mayor Dan Davis said at the meeting. “So to be able to say for residential users that what was originally proposed was a 9.7% increase and now it's only going to be a 4.5% increase ... that's a lot more palatable."
What’s next
City Council will consider the second reading and final vote on the utility rate ordinance at its Sept. 21 meeting.
If approved, the new utility rates will take effect on the first billing cycle after Oct. 31, according to city documents.
