Kalispell City Council to vote on water rate hike

The Kalispell City Council will vote Monday on a proposed water rate increase.

Council meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 201 First Ave. W. The meeting can also be attended virtually, via Zoom.

If approved, water rates will increase by 15% in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, followed by an additional 10% increase in 2026 and 3% bump in 2027. Fixed charges per account would also increase from the present $10.99 to $16.47 over the same period.

For a household using 6,000 gallons per month — a figure that Public Works Department officials have cited as average consumption during winter months — fees would rise from $32.06 monthly under the present rate schedule to $47.98 by 2026.

Summer water consumption averages nearly three times higher than in winter months, according to a memo by Public Works Director Susie Turner.

Turner said that the proposed increase would allow the department to maintain the same quality of water service and facilities operation and maintenance as well as fund limited planned capital projects, such as replacing the roofs on some of the city’s oldest water storage facilities.

In an April report, Turner told Council that holding off on the renovations was a “high risk due to the deteriorating condition of [the] roofs.”

The city’s water system is already under strain owing to increasing demand and outdated facilities. Council passed 90-day emergency water preservation ordinances this summer and last that lets city officials restrict irrigation during periods of high demand.

Mayor Mark Johnson said in previous hearings that the higher than expected costs for the capital improvements necessitated the proposed increases.

Critics of the proposal have said that the hikes would disproportionately affect residents, especially senior citizens with fixed incomes.

Residents have questioned the rationale of raising rates in the face of the Council’s 2019 decision to slash water impact fees to spur development. The fees are used to pay for capital improvements to the city’s water infrastructure, and are calculated in part to account for the effect of new development on the water and sewer systems.

“I am concerned that you’re once again raising the rates when citizens of the town were asked to help developers,” Kalispell resident Laura Clark said to the Council during its July 17 meeting. “Why am I being asked to financially back someone who has millions of dollars to build a property when they’re going to reap the benefits?”

A 2019 report on impact and water fees recommended that the city substantially increase impact fees to pay for future capital improvements. Council voted instead to lower developers’ fees, with current City Councilors Sid Daoud and Ryan Hunter dissenting.

In the 2019 report, consultants warned that existing ratepayers would bear some of the costs of capital improvement projects induced by new development if impact fees were not raised in accordance with their recommendations.

“The city as a matter of policy may adopt a water impact fee which is less than the

calculated fees as shown in this report, but in doing so, the city will be sharing some

portion of development impact costs with existing water utility ratepayers,” the report reads.

Planning Department Director Jarrod Nygren said that reducing the fees in 2019 did have the desired effect of stimulating new construction, saying that proposed developments “at least doubled” in the years following the Council’s decision.

During a June meeting, Hunter raised his concerns about the proposed rate hike and proposed an amendment to raise impact fees.

“I don’t think it's particularly fair to go to the ratepayers and ask them to consider a rate increase on water rates when three years ago we decreased the development impact fees in half,” Hunter said.

Mayor Mark Johnson responded that it was “not the appropriate time” to consider such an amendment, saying that returning fees to prior levels would require a new impact fee study.

Hunter noted that the Council had “completely ignored” the previous study’s recommendations. He also questioned Johnson’s assertion that performing a new study was legally required to bring fees back in line with previous levels.

COUNCIL will also be considering major subdivision approval for Pioneer Estates, a proposed 22-lot residential subdivision on roughly 6 acres on the south side of Two Mile Drive, and final plat for Kalispell North Town Center Phase 4, a 10-lot commercial development.

Council will also vote on a permit for restaurant Casa Mexico’s proposed 78-spot parking lot expansion. The permit would allow the restaurant to expand into a portion of the building to the south to provide a larger kitchen and event area.

Finally, Council will vote on the appointments of George Giavasis and Steve Blazer to the Business Improvement District and Tourism Business Improvement District boards, respectively.

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.