Eau Claire City Council to vote on increased water utility rate

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -In just a few days, the Eau Claire City Council will meet at city hall to determine whether or not to raise the city’s water utility rate by 20.04%.

The city said this increase is necessary to match higher operating expenses as well as infrastructure repairs and improvements. These upgrades include replacing old pipes and funding the new PFAS removal facility.

Kitzie Winters, the Eau Claire Finance Director, said the city aims for a steady increase, rather than constantly fluctuating rates.

“You’ve seen some other municipalities out there,” Winters said. “They’ve had 115% rate increases. Some of those numbers get really, really large. So, behind the scenes we’re working very hard to cut our costs. We’re looking at our invoices and making sure we can be austeric and have that number as small as possible.”

Sam Aguilar, an Eau Claire resident, seemed reluctant towards the potential increase.

“I mean it just sucks,” Aguilar said. “But if they got to do it, what are you going to do? I guess in my opinion it’s like if you got to do it, you got to do it. But, like, hey, y’know, always make sure you don’t have to do it if you don’t have to.”

Will Weinstein, another city resident, said Eau Claire should be more careful with its spending.

“I would say that the city needs to stay out of rising costs and let the economic system decide instead,” Weinstein said.

Council member Larry Mboga said he is still considering his vote for Tuesday but understands that some Eau Claire residents feel they’re facing too many expenses from the city.

“I don’t know if it’s the right time to increase the water rate,” Mboga said. “People are struggling. There are people who are on fixed income, there are students, there are people who cannot afford to pay even their own groceries so that is where I’m coming from.”

This resolution will be open to public comment during the city council meeting on March 9. The council members will then vote on the resolution on March 10.

If passed, the rate increase would go into effect on April 1.

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