You may want to start washing clothes and dishes and bathing and flushing less often than you are now so you are ready by December.
Let me explain. The City of Truth or Consequences each year refigures your sewer bill. They read your water meter for four months—December, January, February and March—when people have stopped watering their plants and lawns, which is a kindness. They drop the highest reading and then average the remaining three, and that’s what your charge will be based on, to the nearest 1,000 gallons, over the next fiscal year, which is from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.
Water and sewer rates will be going up then too.
A recent water and wastewater rate study was presented at the Oct. 8 city commission meeting.
The study concluded that the city needed to raise wastewater/sewer rates 25 percent, starting July 1, 2026.
This increase is on top of the yearly 5 percent increase in sewer rates that has been in effect since 2017.
Water rates, the study concluded, should do three things to increase revenue, starting July 1, 2026:
- Get rid of the 2,000 gallons that are included in the base/monthly charge (which is currently about $20 a month for residences), and charge for every 1,000 gallons.
- Charge more for bigger water meters. The smallest meter is what most residences have, which is .75 inches and no “multiplier” will be applied. For 1.0-inch meters a 2.5 multiplier will be applied. For 1.5-inch meters a 5.0 multiplier will be applied. For 2-inch meters an 8.0 multiplier, 3-inch meters a 16.0 multiplier, for 4-inch meters a 25.0 multiplier.
- Raise residential rates 6 percent and commercial rates 8 percent.
NextGen Strategies & Solutions was hired to do the study. What was presented at the meeting was just the high points. They did not say why so much more money is needed, on top of the regular water and wastewater rate increases.
Water rates went up about 50 percent in 2019 and since then have been raised by the CPI (consumer price index) amount on Sept. 1 each year, which has been as high as almost 10 percent (covid) and as low as 3 percent, as it was last September.
City Manager Gary Whitehead said, (just as he said last month concerning the recent electric department asset study, which was not a rate study), that the public will be invited to attend more fulsome discussions and be able to ask questions at workshop sessions.
In the meantime you may want to practice using less electricity and water.