The new Town of San Tan Valley has formally come out against the water resource fee that neighboring Queen Creek wants to add to every Queen Creek Water bill, including the roughly 12,000 accounts inside San Tan Valley's limits.
San Tan Valley's council voted Wednesday, Nov. 4, to let Mayor Daren Schnepf send Queen Creek a letter opposing the fee as it would apply to San Tan Valley customers, SanTanValley.com reported Saturday. The voice vote drew no opposition. The letter had not been drafted when the council acted.
According to that report, council members said they want answers before Queen Creek moves ahead. One said a presentation Queen Creek staff gave the council on Oct. 21 left questions unresolved, and another argued the charge falls more heavily on San Tan Valley customers than on Queen Creek's own residents.
What the fee would cost
Queen Creek Water, the town-owned utility, serves homes well beyond Queen Creek's borders, in San Tan Valley and unincorporated Pinal County. The proposed charge is $3.07 per 1,000 gallons and would be the same for every customer regardless of where they live. EPCOR water customers would not pay it.
Queen Creek's finance director told San Tan Valley's council that a single-family home using 10,000 gallons a month would pay about $31 more each month, SanTanValley.com reported. For the 12,200 single-family accounts in San Tan Valley, he put the yearly total at about $8.9 million in the first year, up from about $7 million now, an increase of roughly 27%.
The site reports the earliest new bills would arrive March 9, 2027, with the fee phased in over several years.
One sticking point involves sewer service. Queen Creek credits the fee for customers whose wastewater goes to its own sewer system, but many San Tan Valley-area households have EPCOR sewer service and do not qualify. Queen Creek's utilities director said in October the two utilities were discussing a fix but could not promise one before the vote.
