By Christina Mlynski
The City of Southlake is puttingbrnew initiatives and goals into motion as 2014 starts to come into view. One ofbrthe biggest changes residents will experience is an increase in waterbrrates.
In September, the Fort Worth CitybrCouncil voted to approve retail water rates in the New Year, which is importantbrto both Southlake residents and companies because both purchase water from FortbrWorth.
The main driver for the ratebrincrease is the cost to purchase raw water, which is a direct result of abrpass-through rate from the City of Fort Worth. All Fort Worth water customersbrwill see similar rate increases in the cost of their water. Put simply, itbrmeans that the cost per gallon of water for water will also increase forbrSouthlake residents.
“The impact will be similar to thebrcost of a gallon of gas increasing at the pump,” explains City of Southlakebrdirector of public works Robert Price. “If you continue to use the same amountbrof water as in previous periods, compared to a bill in a previous period, thebrnew monthly bill at the new rates will be higher than in past periods.”
As a result, the Southlake citybrcouncil has allocated a large sum to the utility fund in 2014, which accountsbrfor the operation, maintenance and acquisition of the city's municipal waterbrand sewer utility. The utility fund revenues are projected at $23.3 million, upbr11.9%, or $23.3 million from last year.
The largest increase in the utilitybrfund expenses is in the water line item. The water system will receive a 22.7%brincrease in the budget, which largely reflects increases passes along from thebrCity of Forth Worth to Southlake.
More importantly, the ratebrincreases reflect a 15% increase in raw water costs and a massive 57% increasebrin the overall peaking charge for infrastructure and maintenance costs.
The growth and necessity for rawbrwater demand resulted in the Tarrant Regional Water District increasing FortbrWorth's cost by $9.3 million, which, in turn, directly impacts Southlake.
It's important to note that thebrTarrant Regional Water District owns and operatesbrthe major reservoirs and pipelines throughout Fort Worth’s Rolling HillsbrTreat Plan, which then distributes the water throughout the allocated cities.
“This is the cost of doingbrbusiness,” Price says. “Southlake does not have its own water treatment plants.brIn the latest comprehensive master planning process, the city staffbrinvestigated other sources of water, but it was ultimately determined thatbrcontinuing to purchase water from the City of Fort Worth was the mostbradvantageous alternative available.”
Southlake residents are expected tobrsee this increase on the bill they receive toward the beginning of the year,brwith a 12% increase for the first 40,000 gallons used and a 16% increase inbrexcess of the initial 40,000 gallons.
To check out the other budget goals andbrinitiatives for 2014, visit the City of Southlake.