Water and sewer rates rise annually by 2.5% — not 5%, says Rifle City Attorney
An effort to maintain fair and equitable water and sewer fees in Rifle hit a bit of an ineffectual snag this past week.
On paper, the city said it was accidentally increasing its water rates by an annual 5%, but in reality it’s really only charging 2.5% more to residents each year, Rifle City Attorney Jim Neu said.
The blunder was unanimously approved and fixed to reflect the actual 2.5% annual increase at the Jan. 4 City Council meeting.
“As the city was preparing to update its utility fees for the new year, there was some debate among staff on what that increase was going to be,” Neu said. “It’s been codified at 5% for years and years and years.”
That is, until the city underwent a capital improvement study in 2021, which eventually recommended different amounts of escalation: 4.2% for sewer and 2.5% for water.
City documents show, however, the annual rate subsiding to a 1% increase by 2029.
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.