Watford’s water rates going up 10 percent
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City residential and business owners will be seeing a 10 percent increase in the unit charge of their monthly water bill come the first of January. But the good news is that the city is not increasing its monthly minimum water fee, which is currently at $24.03 for residential customers and $39.54 for commercial customers, and will not be increasing its sewer or garbage rates in 2020.
The new unit water rate was approved during the Watford City City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 2. According to Justin Smith, Watford City superintendent of public works, the unit water charge for both residential and commercial customers increased from $4.96 to $5.46 per thousand gallons.
“Since 2012, the city’s water utility has been subsidizing the water rate to keep it as low as possible,” states Smith. “We’ve been subsidizing the water rates by about $150,000 per year.”
And according to Smith, the city cannot continue subsidizing the water rates at that level.
For the full story, subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer