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At a recent Council meeting (4/1/25) the agenda item dealt with the need to raise utility rates for the citizens of Riverton. This is an important and necessary responsibility of our elected officials. Having been in that position I know how difficult and important it is. The city has the responsibility to deal with miles of water lines, sewer lines and garbage collection. How to pay for the repair and maintenance of this multi-million dollar investment and provide for the safety and security of our community is no small job and very expensive. After much discussion they did agree to raise the rates 5% for water and sewer and 2% for sanitation (garbage).
Prior to this vote, during open discussion, I asked “what the City was doing to mitigate the need for this rate increase?” There was no response.
As a tax paying citizen who has dealt with such problems from the City’s side as well as a business man I know there are only two ways to deal with it. You either increase your income or cut your costs.
From this council’s perspective they have chosen to increase their income at the expense of the citizens through an increase in utility rates. The citizens only option is to pay the increase, move or have your water shut off.
I offered my opinion during the discussion that the city has an option of installing solar collectors on three ideal locations on the city’s available land. That land (there are probably others) is near the water treatment plant next to CWC college, the land next to the sewer treatment plant on Smith Road on the east side of Riverton and the large flat roof of the City Hall.
All of these locations would be ideal for large collector arrays generating thousands of watts of power that would cut into the current rising cost of electrical bills. These three locations consume a tremendous amount of electrical power and the city’s resources. Such collectors probably would not provide all of the needed power but could be a great support to help with avoided cost that would increase as the collectors become paid for and help with the cost of government rather than just raising our rates every year. These collectors would not have to be put in all at once, you can add on as the resources become available. There are also grants and low-interest loans to the city for such improvements (at least there have been in the past).
I can speak with certitude that such an investment would save the city thousands of dollars as I have solar arrays on two commercial buildings that I own. Creative Energies out of Lander installed them on the USDA building on Broadway and the Chandelle Event Center near the airport and they have saved me thousands of dollars in electrical cost.
Signed,
Ron Warpness