“There was a flaw on the rate plan schedule which caused a spike on the most recent bill,” explained Dan Jackson with Willdan Financial Services. “This was on me. I apologize. The city bears no responsibility. The problem will be resolved with an amended rate schedule.”
Jackson spoke to Fairfield City Council at their meeting held last Tuesday, November 12, 2024, where he explained that his company was engaged by the City of Fairfield in 2023 to make a new water/wastewater rate plan because the one in place was unusually complex. The goal was to recommend a much simpler rate plan.
In July of this year, he presented two plans, and the 5-year plan was adopted at that point.
However, there was an error in the schedule, which caused an unusually large rate spike, much to customers’ shock and dismay.
“I won’t let you take all of the blame for the mistake,” said Councilman Arland Thill. “We as a city should have double checked the numbers before billing our customers. Also, we failed our citizens by not notifying them of this rate change to begin with. We should have gotten the information out to them back in July. There are many ways we could have notified them, and we failed in doing so. It won’t happen again!”
Councilman Bobby Nichols echoed Thill’s comment by saying, “We made a mistake, and it will be fixed. We won’t make the same mistake again.”
At this point in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to adopt the amended (corrected) rate schedule.
Customers should see a credit on their next water bill to account for the oversite.
The 5-year water/wastewater rate increase plan is as follows:
Base Water Rates (First 2,000 Gallons)
–Oct.1, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2024: In-City Residential: $25.06, Commercial: $34.56
–Oct.1, 2024 – Sept. 30, 2025: In-City Residential: $26.81, Commercial: $36.98
–Oct.1, 2025 – Sept. 30, 2026: In-City Residential: $28.15, Commercial: $38.83
–Oct.1, 2026 – Sept. 30, 2027: In-City Residential: $28.99, Commercial: $39.99
–Oct.1, 2027 – Until Further Amended: In-City Residential: $29.86, Commercial: $41.19
Remaining the same throughout the 5-year plan will be Out-of-City Residential: $46.40 and All Irrigation, Bulk Hauler: $0.00.
Base Sewer Rates (First 2,000 Gallons)
–Oct.1, 2023 – Sept. 30, 2024: All Residential: $18.33, Commercial: $21.63
–Oct.1, 2024 – Sept. 30, 2025: All Residential: $21.26, Commercial: $25.10
–Oct.1, 2025 – Sept. 30, 2026: All Residential: $24.02, Commercial: $28.36
–Oct.1, 2026 – Sept. 30, 2027: All Residential: $25.23, Commercial: $29.78
–Oct.1, 2027 – Until Further Amended: All Residential: $26.49, Commercial: $31.26
All persons supplied with water and sewer by the City, unless otherwise stipulated under separate contract, shall be billed for water anda sewer service at the following monthly rates.
“Commercial” includes churches, city accounts, institutions, schools and other commercial entities unless otherwise contractually negotiated with the City.
For more information, you may obtain copies of the rate plan at City Hall.
Also at this meeting, council voted to approve the year 2022-2023 fiscal year audit; to award KC Property Management, LLC the bid for the construction of the CR 606 waterline extension in the amount of $232,532.00; to approve the new personnel policy manual for the city; and to accept the proposal of TXU Energy for the retail electric services provider at the rate of .052, up from .032, which has been in place since 2017.
Lastly, the council unanimously approved the hiring of a new Fairfield PD officer, Tyler West (at top), who attended the Police Academy of Navarro with a handful of the current officers on the force. He and wife Marissa, with their son Odysseus, live in the Dallas area, but are currently looking to relocate closer to Fairfield. Please welcome Officer West if you see him around.
Officer West was congratulated by Police Chief David Utsey (left) and Asst. Chief Albert Gallegos (right).
(Photo by Nicole Schaefer)
