Des Moines Sun

Water bills will increase in 2023, and the Pleasant Hill City Council approved a 5.5% increase in base rates for residential and commercial use.

“This 5-and-a-half percent increase is not insignificant to customers, we recognize that,” Des Moines Waterworks representative Laura Sarcone told the city council in making the utility’s case for a higher rate. “Like all industries today, and probably like your city, we're experiencing some difficulties with supply chain, also with rising costs, with everything.”

Chief among the challenges is the cost of chemicals alone, which are set for a 55% increase next year.

“So, we certainly had to take a look at balancing the rate increases while meeting the growing expenditures that are needed to treat water and deliver water to specifically to your service area,” Sarcone said.

The collected water rate payments go toward paying for the usage in the city’s service area and anything that is left over will go into the city’s balance fund which can be used for future capital improvements for their service. Last year’s fund balance was virtually depleted after they paid off a debt in full for $2 million. The Waterworks company expects this to grow quickly and substantially again now that there is no debt payment.

City engineer Michael McCurnin also spoke to the council about possible future projects that they could use their fund balance for once it gets back up. In the past few years, they’ve done some minor repairs and painting efforts, and now they plan to take about 18 months with no projects to let that balance grow and plan their future projects. They are going to look throughout the system to find parts to replace or upgrade in order to improve efficiency.