By Julie Johansen
On July 19 at the Castle Valley Special Service District monthly meeting, a public hearing was attended by nearly one dozen people to give comments regarding the proposed rate increase for water users outside of city limits. This was the third proposed rate increase since 2009.
District manager Jacob Sharp explained that the increase is to make up the difference since outside users do not pay the same taxes as those inside the district.
Emery County Commissioner Kent Wilson asked the board members if they felt they could lower the increase to $45 instead of $50. This was agreed upon.
“The goal was to achieve equitability between those citizens inside city limits and those outside city limits,” district board president Brad Giles said. “We also want encourage annexation.”
The rate increased was then passed on to the cities that are serviced by the CVSSD. Public hearings have been held in each affected city at council meetings. Several concerned citizens have attended each meeting.
Questions have come from many as to, “Why?”
“City taxes are being lowered, so is this fair?”
“The only service most of us receive is water. Why charge us more?”
“What do we need to do to annex?”
“Who decided this and what can we do about it?”
The city councils have all answered that the rate was given them from the CVSSD so they have to pass it on to those citizens outside city limits. Each city determines what their water bills are in order to cover administration costs and the amount due to the CVSSD, so they are all different. This too was a question many asked at the public hearings.