City of Kalamazoo water service will probably cost a little more next year. Staff have proposed to raise the service charge and the per-gallon cost of water by eight percent. A typical one-family household in the city would see its water bill go up about a dollar a month.
Kalamazoo says it needs to raise water rates to pay for the system and to make improvements. Commissioner David Anderson says the money does not go into the city’s general budget.
“When we raise fees on the water side, which is what we’re proposing to do, it is for resources to reinvest in our water system,” he told the commission on Monday.
Anderson says Kalamazoo does not want to join the ranks of cities with crumbling water plants.
“How important it is to continue to reinvest in maintenance and upgrading and upkeep of our all-important water system that serves so many people here,” he says.
Kalamazoo last raised water rates in 2014. The eight-percent rate increase would begin in January. The commission is expected to vote on the plan at its next regular meeting in two weeks.
