Royal City researches rate imbalances

Some citizens pay more than their share of water

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Council discussed water rate imbalances.

"We just want to get that back in balance," councilmember Michael Noftle said.

Certain categories of rate payers are either paying more than their share or are paying less than their share of water use, he said.

Single family home rate payers use 40 percent of the water but pay for 51 percent of total usage and multi-family residential rate payers use 38 percent of the water but pay for 26 percent of total usage, Noftle said.

The council did not decide on a solution to fix the imbalance at the Tuesday night council meeting but are discussing shifting the rates around for each category, he said. The goal is to make sure each rate payer is paying for what they use, he added.

The council discussed their six-year water plan too.

Water rates may be increased to help fund the water plan, he said.

If approved, the rate increases would fund various projects including repainting the city water tank, Noftle added.

The council will discuss each issue at the next council meeting on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.

The council welcomed a new city employee during the regular meeting.

Todd Perry was hired on as the new Public Works Director. The previous director, Harry Yamamoto left Royal City to be the director for the City of Quincy department.