Henderson water rate hike considered

Greg Harman

Thursday, June 15, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

Water rates for Henderson residents may be rising.

A bill to be considered by the Henderson City Council on Tuesday night would raise water and sewer rates for residential and commercial customers by about 2.8 percent.

For an average single-family homeowner the change would represent an additional $21 per year in water and sewer costs.

The bill, based on the recommendation of a study conducted by Black & Veatch Corp., is intended to offset an anticipated $6.7 million city deficit that could result from maintaining current water rates.

"We redo it every two years because everything changes so fast," Dennis Porter, assistant utilities manager for the city of Henderson, said of the water rate study.

Costs for potable water, sewer use, waste water and reclaimed water are all proposed to increase by about 2.8 percent.

"It's not that much of an increase. I don't think anybody's going to notice it all that much," Porter said.

The most recent water rate increase was in 1998 when water prices increased 5 percent and sewer rates went up 4 percent.

The proposed increase will net the city an additional $1 million in fiscal year 2001.

Porter said a combination of factors necessitates the proposed rate increases, including new infrastructure, increasing power costs and more stringent federal and state water quality standards.

For commercial users monthly waste water rates are proposed to increase from $3.15 a month to $3.25 per month, while the cost per 1,000 gallons would jump from $1.51 to $1.57.

The cost for reclaimed water, accessed primarily by developers and golf course operators, is also proposed to increase by 90 cents per 1,000 gallons.

For instance, the change of rates is expected to increase Anthem Country Club's annual reclaimed water bill by nearly $13,000, from an annual cost of $370,620 to $383,400 under Black and Veatch's proposal.