Wichita residents face higher water and sewer bills for the New Year.
The City of Wichita approved an increase for water and sewer rates in a 4-2 vote. Residents will pay anywhere from 4.4 percent to 5.9 percent more next year. The more a person pays, the higher of a rate they’ll pay.
For example, if a person pays $55.32, their bill will increase to $58.10 — that’s $2.78 more or a 5 percent increase.
The rate increase is a part of a 10-year plan to fund maintenance and sewer lines.
“We’ve had a lot of deferred maintenance, and what we’re doing is playing catch up,” said Public Works Director Alan King.
King said some people mistake this plan as a supplement for the failed sales tax initiative. This plan focuses on maintenance. The sales tax plan focused on the city’s long-term water supply.
“We’ve all along talked about these rate increases would be necessary regardless of whether or not the sales tax initiative passed,” King said. “This is no way is associated with the new water supply.”
Vice-Mayor Jeff Blubaugh said he didn’t support this plan or an alternative proposed Tuesday morning. He believes there may be better ways to address the problem.
“I don’t think just rate increases every single year is the way out of it to pay for these long-term infrastructure needs,” he said. “I guess I’d look at it like a street or a sidewalk They’re not going to pay for themselves either, so sometimes you need to find other allocations for those infrastructure needs outside of the rate increases.”