WESTMINSTER : City Votes to Double the Cost of Water

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to double the cost of water to businesses and residents and adjust fees for city services ranging from building permits to dog-license fees.

The water rate increases, which go into effect May 1, will cause the average cost of water for a family to jump from $11.37 to $23.39 a month, still below the county average of $24.25. The average bill for all the city’s customers will climb from $18.46 to $37.98.

“We have traditionally undercharged for water,” Councilwoman Lyn Gillespie said before the vote. “We needed to raise our water costs anyway, because we were almost giving away water with what we were charging. With the drought, it was kind of the perfect time to revamp the whole system.”

The fee increase will generate $4.1 million for the city, which provides all the water for its residents and businesses.

“We’re fortunate that our (water fees) are just going to double,” said Finance Director Brian Mayhew, pointing out that other cities have had to raise their rates considerably higher. “We’re trying to do our best to keep water prices as low and fair as we can and still recover our costs.”

The council also passed a resolution setting the cost of fees for every service that the city offers. The goal was to ensure that the city is recovering most of the cost of providing them, Mayhew said.

Last year, the city spent $14.4 million to provide services but recovered only 51% of that through fees.

Mayhew said he did not know whether the increases would generate additional revenue for the city, explaining that they would “keep our fees in line with our costs, but we can’t really predict supply and demand” for the services. Under state law, cities may not charge more for a service than it costs to provide it.

The fees were evaluated and adjusted individually, and many, including those for repeated false fire alarms, rose substantially.

Party disturbances, meanwhile, will now cost $90 after the initial warning, up from $75. Also, business license application reviews went up from $30 to $40.

Still, many other fees, especially those related to building plan review services, dropped. For example, the cost of an alcoholic beverage conditional use permit fell from $740 to $400, he said.