Sewer bills would hold steady for single-family homes but shift for apartments and larger businesses under Nov. 18 rate plan

Owners of single-family homes in Queen Creek would see no change to their monthly sewer charge under a wastewater rate overhaul the Town Council is scheduled to vote on Nov. 18. Apartment complexes and businesses with larger water meters are where the bills would move.

The proposal, Ordinance No. 902-26, is one of six utility rate and fee items set for public hearings at the council's 6:30 p.m. regular session in the Community Chambers, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.

If approved, the new charges would apply to service starting Jan. 27, 2027, and would first appear on bills dated March 9, 2027, according to the staff report by Deputy Town Manager and Chief Financial Officer Scott McCarty.

What stays the same

Single-family accounts would keep paying $10.25 a month plus $4.82 per 1,000 gallons, with the volume charge based on 70% of a home's winter average water use. The rate study by consultant Stantec recommends no adjustment to those numbers.

What changes

Apartments are billed as commercial customers today. The plan creates a separate multifamily class that would pay $7.69 a month per dwelling unit, which is 75% of the single-family fixed charge, and the residential volume rate of $4.82 per 1,000 gallons instead of the current $5.61.

Commercial customers now pay the same $11.96 monthly service charge no matter how large their meter is. Under the proposal that charge would scale with meter size, from $10.25 for a 3/4-inch meter and $17.08 for a 1-inch meter up to $427.08 for a 4-inch meter and $2,733.33 for a 12-inch meter. The commercial volume rate would stay at $5.61.

Stantec's sample bills show what that means for a typical business at each size:

• 3/4-inch meter (44 accounts): about $1.71 a month less
• 1-inch (78 accounts): about $5.12 more, or 3%
• 1.5-inch (120 accounts): about $22.21 more, or 5%
• 2-inch (198 accounts): about $42.71 more, or 6%
• 3-inch (16 accounts): about $158.87 more, or 14%
• 4-inch (8 accounts): about $415.12 more, or 15%

Why the town says it needs the money

The wastewater utility is an enterprise fund that is supposed to cover its own costs from customer charges. At current rates, the study projects a cash shortfall of about $0.2 million in the 2027 fiscal year, driven mostly by the town's costs at the Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant, which it shares with Gilbert and Mesa.

Queen Creek's share of that plant's operating expense is estimated at $3.5 million this fiscal year, about 45% of the utility's operating budget, and the town is using more than the 4 million gallons a day of capacity it is allotted there.

The restructuring would raise about 4% more in wastewater revenue on a full-year basis, or roughly $150,000 in the current fiscal year because it starts midyear. Stantec also projects that increases of 3% a year starting in fiscal 2028 may be needed, though the report says that should be revisited later.

Most of the capital spending in its five-year forecast is tied to a planned Greenfield expansion, estimated at $90 million, that would raise Queen Creek's share to 6 million gallons a day, with about 80% expected to be paid from capacity fees charged to new development.

Commercial wastewater rates last went up in 2015, the staff report says, and the utility cut rates in 2019. Staff warn that skipping the change could leave a gap that forces a bigger increase later.

How to weigh in

The same Nov. 18 agenda carries hearings on new water capacity fees for development, the proposed water resource fee, higher solid waste rates and an increase in water cost-of-service fees. Residents can speak in person by turning in a comment card before the meeting, or submit one comment per item online by 5 p.m. that day through the town's meetings page.

Sources

d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net

queencreekaz.granicus.com