Pleasant Grove's City Council approved a water rate increase last week for culinary and secondary water as well as water impact fees for new construction. The new rates will be effective July 1 for residential and commercial usage. The new impact fees will take effect after a 90-day period following the May 20 ordinance approval.

"Those two rate increases give the city more than sufficient coverage," said Elise Lechtenberg, analyst for Lewis, Young, Robertson and Burningham, financial advisors. According to Lechtenberg, the increases are necessary to ensure that revenue is sufficient to cover expenditures.

City Administrator Frank Mills said secondary water is costing more now than five years ago. Additionally, mandates from the federal government are given each year to require testing for the culinary water.

"There is a lot we have to do to provide safe drinking water," said Mills.

There are currently 11,000 culinary connections in the city, Lechtenberg said. There are 4,200 secondary connections.

"We're expecting that to jump up to 6,500 by this fall," she said.

The city water is billed on a tier system. For example, the current culinary base rate, for the first 5,000 gallons, is $9. Tier 1, 6,000 to 10,000 gallons, is $1.20. With the new rates, the base rate will be $9.45. Tier 1 will be $1.26. Secondary water, which is currently $15 for 8,000 to 21,000 square foot lot size, will be $16.20.

Impact fees, which are one-time payments by developers as a condition of development approval, have been the same for approximately 10 years, according to Lechtenberg. The current rates are $1,043 for a three-quarter-inch meter and $1,999 for a one-inch meter.

The new impact fee per ERC (Equivalent Residential Connection) will be $3,090.71.

"Most households will pay that fee," said Lechtenberg, noting that multifamily developments may be lower and some commercial projects may be higher. According to Ken Young, Community Development Director, the impact fees will be part of the building permit process.