2011 Water and Stormwater Increase

On June 20, 2011, the Florence City Council with the recommendation of the Florence Budget Committee voted to increase the water and stormwater rates. The new rates are effective July 1, 2011.

The water rate increase will generate an additional $321,000 in much needed revenue for the water utility in order to meet its operational, maintenance and debt service needs. The rate increase will not affect the $1.00 per month per account well rehab fee that is dedicated to the well rehabilitation program.

Stormwater monthly utility fees will be increased a $1.00 per month for residential customers and a minimum of $2.00 per month for non-residential and commercial customers. This rate increase is necessary to pay the debt service for the 2010 Series B bond and in order to meet operational and maintenance service needs.

While the City is very sensitive to the difficulties facing all of its customers in this economically challenged time the rate increases are necessary to provide funding for current and on-going maintenance and operational activities within these systems.
With recent increases for electricity, fuel, oil, metals and petroleum based products our utility budgets can’t continue without a reasonable approach to cover these costs. The water and stormwater rate increase will not completely cover these costs. The City will continue to be vigilant with spending so that it can control and conserve where possible our uncontrolled costs. The City is committed to providing you, our customers, the best possible utility service while being mindful of the costs under our control. Thanks to careful strategic planning, Florence will still have rates lower than most other communities along the Oregon coast.

For the typical residential utility customer that uses 1,000 cubic feet of water in a one month billing period, their combined water, wastewater, stormwater, well rehab fee and street light fee is currently $77.91 for a month of service. The increases to the water and stormwater portion of the utility bill are $6.94 per month ($1 for stormwater and $5.94 for water). The revised expected monthly bill for a typical residential customer will be $84.85 per month. This is an average increase of 8.9%.

A comparison of a typical residential customer’s utility bill is as follows:

The water and stormwater rate increases are as follows in the tables below:

Supporting Documents

2011 Water & Stormwater Increase July 1, 2011