‘Take care of that infrastructure’: Riverton City Council approves utility rate increase for water, wastewater, sanitation funds

(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton City Council approved three resolutions last week raising local utility rates by 5 percent for water and wastewater and 2 percent for sanitation.

For local residents, all three rate increases combined will result in additional charges on their utility bills ranging from $2.89 per month to $10.87 per month, depending on usage, Finance Director Mia Harris said during the April 1 council meeting.

As a result, she said the water fund will receive an additional $150,000 per year, the wastewater fund will receive an additional $129,000 per year, and the sanitation fund will receive an additional $50,200 per year.

The additional funding is “essential to maintaining the financial health of these funds and ensuring the continued operation of our water, sewer and sanitation services,” Harris said, explaining that, while all of the utilities are currently “financially stable for operational costs,” they also face “increasing capital demands (that) necessitate rate adjustments to keep pace with infrastructure needs.” 

For example, Harris said, the water fund’s operational revenue projections exceeded expenditures by almost $70,000 this year, but the city still transferred about $346,000 into the water fund to offset capital expenses – and “moving forward, several million dollars in infrastructure repairs, replacements and equipment purchases will be necessary, making a rate increase essential.”

Public Works Director Brian Eggleston said the operation and maintenance projection for the water fund through 2032 amounts to more than $16 million, and for 2052 it’s more than $70 million – in part due to the fact that more than 18 miles of Riverton’s water lines were installed in 1916 and are still in service.

“That’s where the big bucks are,” Councilmember Mike Bailey said. “We have all this money that we’re going to have to spend (on) the lines that are going to be failing.”

The city’s water treatment plant is aging too, Bailey said, and “it’s starting to get to the point where now we’re having to replace pumps and filters (and) all these components that are extremely expensive.”

That’s why it’s important to “consider the replacement cost of the plant (and) the lines” when setting utility rates, City Administrator Kyle Butterfield said – because otherwise “we would be in a situation at some point where residents couldn’t have confidence in drinking their water,” and “we never want to get to that point.”

“Deferred maintenance is the quickest way over a long period of time to damage the health, safety and welfare of your community,” Butterfield said. “(So) when you set rates, you make sure that you cover the cost of the utility and the future capital outlay.”

Councilmember Eric Carr, who performed at least three water master plan studies during his professional career, echoed Butterfield’s comments, adding that utility rates for “most cities that I’ve looked at” are “woefully low” – to the point where “if a major issue arose, the city would go broke trying to fix it.”

“I don’t like raising rates,” he said. “But my guess is that even with these increases, we’re still going to be woefully inadequate.”

Councilmember Karla Borders expressed some concern about raising utility rates, too, but she also agreed with Carr that it would be “irresponsible” not to save money for future repairs and replacements.

“We’re looking at pipes that are 100 and some years old,” Borders said. “We have to have the funds in place. … So I’m going to vote in favor of this, as much as it hurts.”

Councilmember Rebecca Pierson-Lewis shared similar thoughts, calling it the council’s “responsibility (to) provide for the best water we can.”

“I understand the frustration as somebody that doesn’t want to pay more,” she said. “But it’s probably the No. 1 priority that we have as a community, is first to take care of that infrastructure. (So) that’s where I stand.”

Councilmember Karen Johnson voted “no” on all three resolutions last week, explaining that she is “not a fan of raising rates on anybody” – especially not “this year” when “the general public and the community is so tired of being taxed and (getting) rate increases.”

“Everything is going up, but nobody’s paycheck is going up, and people are struggling,” Johnson said. “I think that this year we need to recognize that and maybe give it a break for a year. … I understand that the city needs to be able to do those repairs and keep things functional, (but) I’m not going to be supporting the rate increases this year.”

For more information, call the City of Riverton at (307) 856-2227.