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HARLINGEN — A committee is planning to reach out into the community, aiming to win residents’ support for a $107 million sewer overhaul spurring the city’s first water rate hikes in years.
To help fund one of the city’s biggest projects, commissioners and WaterWorks System’s board members are requesting the Texas Water Development Board grant $24 million under the state’s Economically Distressed Areas Program.
As part of the program, Tim Skoglund, general manager of the WaterWorks System, is proposing boosting some of the Rio Grande Valley’s lowest water rates to help fund the project.
During a meeting, consultants proposed increasing water rates as high as 8% to 11%.
At City Hall, officials are placing the program aimed at setting new water rates on a fast track.
Now, the committee made up of Commissioners Ford Kinsley and Frank Morales and WaterWorks board members Steven Brewer and Muro de la Paz is set to meet during the first week in January to launch the community outreach program.
“It is going to be difficult,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said during a joint Monday meeting of the commission and the WaterWorks System. “But these are realities. I think, in our community, people know that these changes need to be made. People understand the needs but unless they know it’s going to benefit them individually, they’re not going to be on board. So putting it in a way everyone can understand and digest is going to be important.”
As part of the program, commissioners are planning to call town hall meetings aimed at rallying residents’ support for the sewer project and the series of water rate hikes that would help fund it.
“Sometimes people don’t want to come to City Hall so you have to take City Hall to them, so that way they can be engaged,” Sepulveda told officials.
Meanwhile, officials might be setting new water rates as early as February.
“My biggest concern is our folks that are on fixed incomes,” Sepulveda said. “We know there’s going to be an increase and we do have some individuals that are living on their Social Security check and we don’t want them to be unable to buy groceries and those things. So even if there’s a little addition to their expenses, it’s going to impact them.”
Last Saturday, Commissioner Daniel Lopez, who oversees District 2, helped pitch the program to a group of residents at a north side neighborhood.
“Of course, they’re shocked when you first tell them,” he told officials. “But once you explain where it’s going to go to and all the benefits they’re going to get from it, they’re fine with it.”
For years, Skoglund’s been planning one of the city’s biggest projects aimed at overhauling the city’s aging sewer system to make room for growth.
Last month, he unveiled a $107 million sewer project aimed at upgrading the system in which pipes are overloading, spurring some sewage overflows.
The project includes the construction of a main “interceptor” pipeline while building a deeper lift station and installing gravity lines to eliminate old lift stations, he said.
While the Water Development Board granted WaterWorks a $10 million low interest loan in September, the agency plans to apply for a new round of funding during the upcoming year, Skoglund said.
To help fund the project, consultants are proposing a series of water rate hikes spanning about three years.
Now, the city’s current monthly water rate stands at $7.93 on a three-quarter meter, plus $1.65 for additional 1,000 gallons, while the sewer rate’s set at $6.18 on a three-fourths meter, plus $3.66 for additional 1,000 gallons, with average utility bills charging residents about $644 a year.
Based on 5,000-gallon water usage, consultants with the Willdan firm proposed water rate hikes climbing $4.19 cents to $49.12 a month, then eight months later, jumping $4.15 to $53.27.
Then a year later, rates would climb $5.86 to $59.13 during a second year.
During the third year, rates would jump $6.50 to $65.64.
