Mapleton to issue water-bill credits

MAPLETON — City officials say some homeowners could find a pleasant surprise on their latest water bills — a one-time credit.

A new set of rates the City Council passed in July to bring more money into city coffers had unintended consequences, leading to smacking some residents with monthly bills as high as $800, Mayor Laurel Brady said. The tier structure was "aggressive," she said.

"We thought that bills would average in the $60s (range)," Brady said.

Instead, large water users were hit with staggering bills. To correct the situation, a split City Council voted at a recent council meeting to change the rates again after recalculating them and give credits to overcharged residents, retroactive to July. The vote was 2-2, with Brady breaking the tie. Councilwoman Ann Tolley was absent.

The new rates are effective as of Sept. 1.

Councilmen Ben Christensen and Mike Nelson voted against the measure, saying they didn't want to credit the users because money is tight, Brady said. Some residents will still have high bills because of the size of their property and amount of water they use. The hike in rates was overdue, because the city hasn't increased them in about a decade, officials say.

"Water is expensive," Brady said, but the rates should now be more in line with other towns.

Mapleton's rates are based on seven tiers with a base rate beginning at $20 a month for folks with a three-quarter-inch or 1-inch meter. The base escalates to 4-inch meters priced at $225 monthly. The base rate for folks with irrigation water is $35 per month.

Culinary Usage is then calculated by the number of gallons residents use based on the tiers. The rate per culinary gallon begins at $1.25 per 1,000 gallons up to just under 13,000 gallons. The more residents use the pricier it becomes. The highest price is now $3 per 1,000 gallons for people who use 300,000 gallons or more each month of culinary water regardless of whether they have pressurized irrigation.

The biggest adjustment was raising the base rate $5 and lopping off a top tier price of $3.50 per 1,000 gallons, city manager Bob Bradshaw said.

Although the council considers the current crisis solved, Brady is not optimistic about the future.

"We all hope next year will be better," she says in the current mayor's message posted on the city Web site, mapleton.org, "But we can't make the mistake of living on hope alone. So we are moving forward based on the assumption next year will NOT be better, and that it is likely, in fact, to be worse."

Department heads have been instructed to look for reductions as the city gears up to face more cuts.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com

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