Several committee reports were heard at the Eureka City Council meeting on Monday, April 14, including the budget committee who recommended raising water rates to offset some of the current costs the city is facing. The proposed rate increase is fifty cents per tier. In water utilities, a “tier” refers to a pricing structure where water consumption is divided into different price levels based on the amount of water used. Each tier typically has a different cost per unit of water (e.g., per cubic foot or per gallon), with higher tiers having higher prices. In Eureka, the proposed increase would take effect after the first tier (2,000 gallons), which is currently set and would stay at $11.25. The increase of fifty cents would apply to each 1,000 gallons thereafter. Mayor Stephen Coulter advised that this change would not take effect for 90 days to give adequate notice to Rural Water, which would also be affected.
The council expressed concern about the effect of the rate increase on the city’s debt load and into the next budget cycle. “What people need to understand is we’re not really anxious to raise rates, and that’s part of our problem because we’re sympathetic to everybody, but when we look at the cost of everything, we’re not doing a good job of doing good,” said Coulter. The council decided to continue the discussion at the next meeting when additional data will be available.
