Minnetonka Utility Fees Increase Jan. 1

From the city of Minnetonka:

In December, the Minnetonka CityCouncil adjusted municipal utility (water, sewer, recycling and storm water) fees effective January 1, 2014. Fees for water, sewer and storm were last raised by a modest amount a year ago, but recycling fees have not changed for ten years. Changes to the fees are as follows:

• Water rates were increased to $2 per 1,000 gallons and the sewer rates were increased to $1.59 per 1,000 gallons, in order to keep pace with system costs and to cover expensive infrastructure maintenance.
• The sewer base fee was increased to $44.94 per quarter to cover fixed costs of the system, including costly capital replacement and repairs in roadways.
• The recycling fee was raised to $3.50 per month to offset significantly reduced revenue from the sale of recycled materials.
• Storm water fees increased by three percent ($0.54 per quarter), to cover the costs of the city’s storm water system infrastructure and federally mandated testing, reporting and improvements related to water quality and runoff.

One of the primary goals of the water and sewer fee structures is to ensure that every customer benefits by their own conservation of water and sewer use. All customers share in the fixed costs of the system through the base fee and simply pay for what they use. The tiered water rate structure remains in place in order to encourage water conservation. The adjacent table shows the rate changes for 2014.

All other account fees, late payment, state of Minnesota testing fees, and meter maintenance fees remain the same.