The city of McAllen approved rate increases for water and sewer services that will go into effect next month.

The McAllen city commission and the McAllen Public Utility Board jointly and unanimously agreed to raise rates to combat rising costs due to inflation.

For water, the minimum monthly base fee, which is charged to every customer, increased by $2.50 for a total of $12.45 per month.

They also increased the fee charged for every 1,000 gallons of usage by 20 cents.

For sewer services, the public utility increased the base fee by 50 cents to $12.50 per month, but did not increase its usage fees.

The public utility increased its rates based on expenses that had increased “tremendously” due to inflation, according to Mark Vega, the general manager of the McAllen Public Utility.

Price hikes increased the utility’s operational expenses for water services from $14.7 million in 2021 to $17 million this year.

There were three expenses, in particular, that increased in price — chlorine, fuel and energy, Vega told city commissioners on Monday.

Chlorine, alone, represented 15% of the expenses for water services, while energy was another 15-20%, he said. Fuel only made up about 5% of total expenses.

On the sewer side, expenses did not see as big of an increase — going from $9 million to $10 million — which Vega said was because they do not use as many chemicals, though they do require more electricity.

Vega said the utility is taking other measures to try to combat rising costs, such as installing new water lines to serve more customers, and staff are currently in talks with the city of Pharr to supply water to the south side of the city.

Despite the increase to the rates, Vega pointed out that their rates continue to be among the lowest in the Rio Grande Valley.

“If the commission chooses to approve and adopt the proposed rates, we will still be about $6 lower than the Valley average,” Vega told the commissioners.

For water and sewer combined, the McAllen Public Utility will now charge $59.95 for 10k gallons of usage for residences. The Valley average for 10k gallons of usage is $65.80.

The rate increases will go into effect Oct. 1.