Water rates lead online comment

One online speaker raised water rates, watering restrictions and a conflict-of-interest question; no one spoke in the room.

The online commenter said residents had asked where to take water-rate concerns and accused council of not listening or taking action on them. The commenter said the town manager maintained that development paid its own way and existing residents paid only for taste-and-odor improvements. The commenter said the November 2023 rate study showed existing residents paying 100% of the new treatment plant’s cost while new development paid only for raw-water lines feeding it, and documented three annual 30% rate increases followed by several more years of 5% increases. The commenter calculated that, if compounded, the increases amounted to 185%, effectively tripling each resident’s cost, and said treatment capacity was set to reach 21 million gallons a day in 2031 through an $80 million expansion without a contribution from new development.

The commenter said the town had in some cases used more water this year than last year to irrigate grass at facilities it maintained, while residents were being asked to conserve. The commenter questioned the focus on vehicle washing on the two days per week residents could water lawns, arguing car-washing water use was similar regardless of day and minimal when a shutoff device was used.

The commenter said they had raised a conflict-of-interest concern with council that summer and received no response. A speaker who described their YMCA Council service as volunteer asked the attorney to clarify whether it constituted a conflict and to correct the record if there was no basis for the allegation. The attorney said an uncompensated role without a financial interest or pecuniary benefit from the town contribution would not create a conflict or appearance of impropriety.