UTILITY RATES

The Utility Operating Funds are self-supporting funds. This means that the fees collected on your utility bill pay for the costs of providing utilities; tax revenues are not collected to provide these services. The utility services on your bill can include the following: water, sewer, storm sewer, and recycling.

There are many factors considered when setting utility rates. Operating revenues should cover:

• Operating expenses (wages and benefits, supplies, and other services and charges)

• Depreciation (ensures the City is planning for the maintenance and replacement of existing infrastructure)

• Debt service on utility projects

As expenses and the costs to provide utility services increase, the rates must also increase to offset the expenses. The following rate increases were approved for 2024:

Recycling: The City contracts with Republic Services to provide recycling. The monthly fee will increase $0.20. This will cover the increase in the cost of services provided by Republic.

Water: Customers will see a 15% rate increase for water services in 2024. The increase is mainly due to increases in operating expenses, as defined above.

Sewer: A 40% rate increase was approved for sewer services in 2024. Like water services, operating expenses for sewer services are increasing. Additionally, the Metropolitan Council for Environment Services (MCES) owns and operates the wastewater treatment plant. The municipal charges paid to MCES are the largest portion of the sewer operating budget (60%), and the City experienced an 18% increase in those charges from MCES. If MCES did not own and operate the wastewater treatment plan, the City would be responsible for building a new one which is very costly.

Storm Sewer: No changes.

The City of Rogers, in review of its current rate structure, recommends the following rate increases for sanitary sewer, water and stormwater rates for 2024.  The rates shown below are based on rate study recommendations and reflect revenue needs for program expenses.

The following rates will be charged by the City of Rogers for sanitary sewer, water, and stormwater for usage commencing on January 1, 2024:

Storm Water

A monthly storm water basic charge to cover fixed costs is $1.73 per parcel.

A monthly storm water utility fee based on land use is as follows:

Water

A monthly basic charge per meter to cover fixed costs are as follows:

The annual charge for State mandated water testing fees per connection is $9.72 per year.  A monthly equivalent is .81 cents per connection.  This charge is in addition to the monthly basic charge.

A tiered monthly water (“commodity”) charge is as follows:

The City utilizes Advanced Metering Infrastructure technology (AMI). AMI allows the City to automatically collect consumption data from water meters and transfer that data to a central database for billing and analysis. Customers who chose not to use this technology will be charged $75 per billing cycle; this fee will cover the additional costs to obtain the manual meter reading and update the utility billing software.

Water Turn On/Shut Off Fee. Customers who request to have their water turned on or shut off during the year will be charged a $75 fee if completed during regular business hours and $100 if completed after hours. Water turn on and shut off requests will be completed at the discretion of the Public Works Director. 

Sanitary Sewer

1. Residential property owners will have their sewer consumption set at their winter usage known as “winter averaging.”

2. For residential property owners who have no winter water usage, the winter average would be based on 80% of the previous year’s actual water consumption for billing cycle.

3. New residential property owners would have their winter average set at the City’s residential average water consumption of 5,000 gallons per monthly billing cycle until they are able to establish a winter average amount.  For 2024, new owners would have their sewer capped at $43.40 per billing cycle.

Billing Cycle

• All properties will be billed on a monthly basis.

• All payments shall be due on the 1st day of the month following billing.

Penalty

There will be added to the current billing, if not paid by the due date, a late charge of 1.5% for each month or part thereof calculated against the arrears.

Land Use/Billing Categories

City Staff is directed to review and identify the appropriate land use and billing categories for all property within the City. The billing category shall coincide with the actual use of the property. 

Correction of Customer Overcharges and Undercharges

1. Adjustments and Time Limitation:  When a determination is made that a customer’s utility account has been overcharged or undercharged for utility services (by reason of inaccurate metering, clerical errors, or other unintentional causes), the error shall be remedied as promptly as possible, and an adjustment shall be made for the dollar amount of the overcharge or undercharge for the time period that the erroneous charges occurred, not to exceed one year prior to the date that the City became aware of the error for undercharges, and two years prior to the date that the City became aware of the error for overcharges.  

2. Refund for Overcharge:  When a customer has been overcharged, the overpaid amount shall be refunded to the customer by the City within sixty days of the calculation of the amount of overcharge, or a credit may be placed on the current bill at the request of the customer.

3. Collection of Undercharges:  When a customer has been undercharged, the customer shall be promptly notified of the cause and amount of the adjustment, and the undercharged amount shall be added to the customer’s utility bills (whether or not those bills are for the same property on which the undercharge occurred); at the discretion of the City, the undercharged amount may be paid to the City, without interest or penalties, up to a maximum period of twelve months, beginning with the next billing after the notification.   

Repealed

All previous Code Sections and Ordinances that are inconsistent with this Ordinance are hereby repealed upon the effective date of this Ordinance.

Effective Date

This Ordinance shall be effective and the above-referenced rate changes shall commence with usage beginning January 1, 2024.