The Aurora City Council is set to extend through the end of the year a delay in a planned water rate increase.
Aldermen are set to vote at the Sept. 22 City Council meeting, and are expected to delay to Jan. 1, 2021, a rate increase of about 5%. The increase would have pushed the average city water bill from about $90.60 to $95.20. That is an average two-month bill – while the rate is figured monthly, bills actually come every two months.
The rate increase was actually to have begun earlier this year, but the council already deferred the rate increase to Oct. 1. The vote next week would extend that deferral until next year.
The reason for the deferral is the COVID-19 pandemic, and is designed to give homeowners a break. According to a memo from Martin Lyons, the city’s chief financial officer, to Mayor Richard Irvin, the “pandemic has created numerous financial hardships for Aurora residents and businesses.”
“The city has already taken steps to suspend water shutoffs,” Lyons said. “Staff recommends the deferral of the scheduled rate increase.”
The City Council has traditionally done rate increases every two years, so the council had already approved the rate increase that was supposed to begin in July. City officials said they do rate increases in two-year increments over a period of time, rather than every five to 10 years, so the increases are not big when they come.
The city’s water utility is run as an enterprise fund, which means the rates change to cover costs, both ongoing operating costs and capital needs.
Lyons said in his memo that because several capital projects in the water fund were deferred because of the pandemic, it is “financially able to incur the modest revenue loss from this temporary deferral.”
slord@tribpub.com
