MOUNT VERNON — City council members will vote on a proposed three-year wastewater rate increase at their Monday meeting.
The rates increase by 11 percent each year from 2026-28.
Water rates will also increase by 7 percent each of the next three years.
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said Arcadis, the city’s design architect, recommended the increases based on current and potential capital improvements.
Both the wastewater and water increases will kick in the second quarter of each year.
City council sets the wastewater rates. The safety-service director sets the water rates.
Although the ordinance up for its third reading involves the wastewater rates, Salyers included information about the water increases “simply for transparency’s sake.”
“In the past, the public has never been able to look back and see why did my water rate increase, who did it and how much did it go up,” Salyers said during a Nov. 24 utilities committee meeting.
“After this conversation with the utilities commission, with all the H-2 overhaul conversation with the upgrades to the water plant and wastewater plant, we said somebody should be able to look at one piece of legislation, not go digging in the archives, and they should be able to see who raised their wastewater rate and who raised their water rate. They are not the same groups.”
“I appreciate the transparency, and I think that’s necessary, so I applaud that,” Councilman Mel Severns said.
How much are minimum bills increasing?
The current base rate for wastewater is $7.46 per 100 cubic feet of flow (748 gallons). The city charges for a minimum of 400 cubic feet (nearly 3,000 gallons), which is $29.83.
With the 11 percent increase, rates will rise to $33.12, $36.76, and $40.80 for years 2026-28.
The current base rate for water is $24.95. It will rise to $26.70, $28.57, and $30.57 in years 2026-28, respectively.
Clinton Township and other residents with surcharges on their bills through agreements with the city can contact the utility billing office at 740-393-9504 to determine their bill amounts.
(Below is a PDF of the ordinance.)
The ordinance requires the council to conduct a review in the first quarter of 2028. Specifically, the review includes the following:
•Evaluate the sufficiency of water and wastewater revenues to meet operational and capital obligations.
•Determine whether the 2028 increases remain necessary.
•Consider implementing a CPI-based adjustment in 2029 if justified by inflationary trends and cost of services analysis.
Salyers said the ordinance includes the mandated review because of the many variables associated with the current and proposed capital projects in the pipeline.
Variables include a business utilizing a lot of water, or the council opting not to pursue a project.
Councilman James Mahan favors implementing an annual, smaller increase.
“It’s easier to adjust to a measured increase than it is to a bump,” he said, referencing the upcoming jump in electric rates after the current five-year rate agreement expires.
“That’s just harder for your budget to handle. The same things that impact any organization, salaries, materials, energy, etc. etc. are going to hit the wastewater plant. So this makes sense to me.”
