Wichita residents and businesses can expect to see a slight increase in their water and sewer rates next year.
The Wichita City Council approved a water rate increase of 4 percent, and a sewer rate increase of 5 percent for a combined 4.4 percent increase. It’s less than the rate increase approved last year.
Under the new rates, a household that uses 7500 gallons of water a month could expect their bill to jump from $61.12 to $63.90. The hike will generate an additional $6.3 million for the city's water and sewer funds.
Public Works and Utilities director Alan King says the increased revenue will go toward maintaining and improving the city’s infrastructure.
“What drives theses rates are primarily capital expenditures, improving our system, making our system more reliable and catching up with some of the older parts of our system that need to be renewed or replaced," he told council members at their meeting Tuesday.
The city formed a 10-year planning model last year based on a Cost of Service Analysis. Under it, smaller rate hikes are planned for each year through at least the next decade.
In a study of water and sewer rates in the 50 largest cities in the U.S., the engineering firm Black and Veatch found that Wichita's rates are below the 50-city average.
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