Water and sewer fees in Aberdeen are going to keep on rising. It’s unclear precisely how much, but the hike is something residents are going to notice over the next few years.
Fees for many services have been rising for some time on account of inflation and aging infrastructure. Now, Aberdeen tackles the issue after the Rapid City Council approved similar fee increases.
Increases in rates would come gradually. For example, service charges for water and wastewater went up one and three dollars a month, respectively. Monthly usage fees also rose over last year.
These fee increases are spurred by planned projects at local water and sewer plants and the construction of a new water tower.
Ted Dickey is the program coordinator with the Northeast Council of Governments. He estimated what a “worst case scenario” could look like but said this isn’t set in stone.
“The current city rates are at $35.50 per 5,000 gallons," Dickey said. "By increasing it, if the state only gives a loan to buy $6.75, the total proposed rate increase would be $42.25.”
While grant and city dollars will cover 42% of the total construction costs, inflation has only pushed prices up on each of these projects. For example, the water tower project was initially budgeted at $4.5 million.
“This funding package is roughly $13 million total to construct the new water tower," Dickey said. "$2 million from EDA, the city has to come up with roughly $1 million of local match to help pay for it and then $10 million from the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources will help make up the balance of that funding to help construct the new tower out there.”
The expansion of the water treatment plant is expected to cost as much as $33 million, though that hasn’t been addressed by the council yet.