The Casper City Council will vote on increasing water, sewer and garbage rates at its Dec. 21 meeting.

The proposed increase would raise the average resident's city utility bill by $8 every two months.

However, in order to offset the impact such a hike will have on residents during summer, when the bulk of water use occurs, the council on Tuesday directed the city staff to start billing customers on a monthly basis as soon as possible. The city currently bills its utility customers every two months.

If the council passes the proposed rate increases on Dec. 21, the cost of residential garbage collection will increase by 13.5 percent, from $9.25 per month to $10.50. This would translate into having the average Casperite paying $15 more for garbage collection in 2005 than in 2004.

The proposed rate hikes also call for increasing sewer rates by 6.6 percent. This translates into a monthly increase of 72 cents for the average resident who disposes 6,500 gallons of waste water every month. Over the course of a year, the proposed sewer hike will cost the average Casperite an extra $8.64.

And the proposed hikes call for increasing the price the city charges residents for water by 7 percent. This means the average Casperite, who uses 11,500 gallons per month, would see his water bill go up from $28.17 to $30.13, a jump of $1.96, according to city documents. Over the course of the year this hike will cost the average resident $23.52.

If passed on Dec. 21, the new rates will take effect Jan. 1.

The bulk of this annual jump in water costs would be paid during the summer, when lawns need to be kept green and water use is at its highest. Bimonthly utility bills during that season can exceed $200.

To offset some of the sticker shock some residents have when they get their bimonthly summer water bills, the council ordered the city staff to start billing its customers on a monthly basis as soon as possible.

Moving to monthly billing will cost the city around $200,000 a year more than the current bimonthly billing does because of the increased mailing, labor and material costs associated with such a move, Public Utilities Manager David Hill said.

However, some increases in labor costs will be offset once the city installs electronic meter readers on all the city's 19,000 water meters, Hill said. The city has installed around 2,500 of the meter readers.

Councilman Paul Bertoglio on Tuesday proposed spending unused One Cent Sales Tax money on a program to speed the citywide implementation of the electronic meter readers. All council members seemed to see it as an idea worth exploring.

The city could use $1 million that had been designated for a clubhouse at the new Three Crowns Golf Course on the meter readers, an idea Councilwoman Barb Peryam said she favored. Or the city could also use $700,000 of One Cent money originally designated for a second sheet of ice to supplement the current ice rink at the city's recreation center.

The Amoco Reuse Agreement Joint Powers Board determined last week it did not need the $1 million from the city for the clubhouse, City Manager Tom Forslund said. The second sheet of ice is a project the city allocated One Cent money to years ago that will likely never come to fruition due to lack of money and interest.

A decision on what, if any, money will be used on quickening the meter readers' installation will not be made until after the new year, when precise time and cost estimates are known.

Until the new meter readers are in place, city workers will have to manually read water meters once a month to make monthly billing possible, Forslund said. They currently read meters once every two months.

Want to have your say?

Casper residents wanting to speak to the City Council about the proposed utility rate hikes must sign up by stopping by the city manager's office in City Hall or calling 307-235-8224 by noon on Monday.

Staff writer Brendan Burke can be reached at (307) 266-0589 or Brendan.Burke@casperstartribune.net.