Folks using the city of Mexico’s wastewater system will notice an increase in their bills beginning next month after the rate is increased by four percent.
The Mexico City Council approved …
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Folks using the city of Mexico’s wastewater system will notice an increase in their bills beginning next month after the rate is increased by four percent.
The Mexico City Council approved a rate increase after a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 25, at City Hall. The rate for 1,000 gallons of use is increasing from $1.44 to $1.50 and the base month rate will increase from $6.21 to $6.46. The average household that uses 5,000 will see their bill increase from $48.07 a month to $50.01. Anyone outside the city limits on the system will be charged 200 percent of the normal rate.
Deputy City Manager Roger Haynes made the city’s presentation during the public hearing and said the city made the adjustment after conducting the annual rate analysis. Haynes said the city has conducted an annual analysis each year since 2008.
In 2009 voters approved a bond issue of up to $16 million to upgrade the city’s wastewater facilities and more than $12 million of the money was spent on the system. Haynes said after completing two phases of the project it became more clear to the city that borrowing more money wasn’t the route to go.
“When we looked at the cost of the third phase, it was going to be such a rate shock to our users that we said, ‘Hey let’s try to tackle this on an annual basis,” Haynes said.
Haynes said since then the city has saved money and used a pay-as-you-go system to complete the upgrades. From 2015 through last year the city has spent more than $4.47 million on wastewater upgrades that were not financed.
“The city has elected to tackle additional needs for capital improvements by priority ranking each need and put into effect that pay-as-you-go tactic for cash in reserves,” Haynes said.
Haynes showed a chart illustrating where Mexico’s wastewater rates were compared to other similar-sized cities in the state. Mexico is on par or has a lower rate than similar cities such as Moberly with a much higher rate. Haynes said the rate increase would give the city an additional $20,000 to add to reserves for future projects next year.
