The Sierra Madre City Council will start its preliminary discussion of a plan to increase water and sewer rates for city customers over the next five years at their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.
The first look at potential options include five-year water rate increases ranging from 49 percent to 59 percent of current rates and five-year sewer rate increases ranging from 75 percent to 96 percent of current rates.
No new rates will be set at Tuesday's meeting; the next steps will be a community meeting on September 30, followed by another council discussion on October 8, another community meeting and a final public hearing in December.
The Council will also be discussing how to structure water utility rates in addition to their determination on the size of the increases.
According to the city's staff report, the city will be running a negative balance in its reserve funds in the next two years without the increases. The differing levels of increases would determine how soon the city would be able to restore those funds to desired levels.
More on the increases can be found in the city's staff report on the issue.
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