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3.5 percent water rate increase to be considered

FD City Council to weigh its options tonight

A 3.5 percent increase in water rates will be considered by the Fort Dodge City Council when it meets this evening.

If it is approved by the council after three readings at three separate meetings, the increase will go into effect on Jan.1.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. today in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S. The first reading of the proposed increase will be considered at that time.

The city has increased water rates by 2 percent to 3 percent each year to keep pace with increased costs of running the utility.

In a report to the council, City Manager David Fierke wrote that there are a couple of reasons for a larger rate increase this time.

He wrote that an increase that was to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, was postponed until May 1, 2021, while a major project was underway at the John W. Pray Water Facility.

That project reduced the hardness of the city’s drinking water by adding a process called reverse osmosis. Fierke wrote that operating the reverse osmosis system costs more than running the plant previously did. There are more and larger pumps in use, and the price of chemicals used in the process has gone up, he wrote.

“Although the fund’s financial projections show the need for significant rate increase in future years, this ordinance is just a one-year increase,” Fierke wrote.

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