Water, sewer rate hikes lower than expected

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 9:30 a.m.

Average North Las Vegas customer's monthly water and sewer bill now and under city staff recommendations:

The latest proposed increases are about $14 a month less than previously recommended rate increases. The change came after some expenses were cut from the utility budget, and increases to water and sewer connection fees were taken into account.

In addition to the rate hike, the council is expected to vote Wednesday on drought-related water-use restrictions. The restrictions would mirror those already adopted by Las Vegas and Clark County, which are served by the Las Vegas Valley Water District, and Henderson. Those rules limit the days residents can water lawns, ban some misters and restrict commercial fountains.

The rate increases, if approved, would be the first water and sewer rate hikes in 10 years for North Las Vegas customers.

Under the rate proposals, which were unveiled Monday, a city water and sewer customer using an average of 14,000 gallons of water a month would pay an average of $43.98 a month beginning Oct. 1. The bill would go to $50.70 a month on Oct. 1, 2004, and then to $57.54 a month on Oct. 1, 2005.

That average customer now pays $37.32 a month.

Those increases are $14.26 a month less by 2005 than were previously recommended.

City Assistant Public Works Director David Bereskin said the smaller increase was made affordable in part by increasing utility connection fees for new homes.

The water and sewer connection fees, now $2,510 for most homes in the city, are proposed to increase by $660 on Jan. 1. The connection fees would then be left unchanged through 2006, Bereskin said.

Bereskin said the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association supports the fee changes, which he said could generate an additional $2.5 million a year for the city.

Another cost-cutting change calls for paying some Public Works Department employees out of the city's general fund instead of the utility fund, Bereskin said. Those salaries are for employees whose job duties are not related to the utility services, he said.

The lower increases were welcomed by the members of the city's Utility Advisory Board on Monday. However, board members criticized city staff for not getting them the new rate structures before Monday.

The board was expected to weigh in on the latest proposed rate changes. However, the late arrival of one board member and early departure of another left the board with a quorum for only a few minutes, not long enough for the board to take a vote.

Board Chairwoman Joyce Thomas, a self-employed insurance saleswoman, was almost an hour late for the 6 p.m. meeting. Thomas said her work made her late for the meeting.

When the meeting got under way, staff members handed out the new recommendations.

Board member Rose Davis criticized them for not coming up with the lower rates earlier and for not getting the latest proposal to board members sooner.

Davis, who had said she had an appointment and needed to leave around 7 p.m., then left.

"I've got to go. You've wasted three months of my time," Davis said.

At the end of the meeting the board members agreed to meet again on Monday.

Thomas said the board will not meet if the council votes on the rate changes.