JACKSON, Wyo. — Last Monday at its workshop meeting, Jackson Town Council directed staff to draft ordinances relating to water use, including rate hikes for water and sewer, changes to the water meter rate structure, and an irrigation efficiency ordinance.
Last summer, the Town of Jackson passed an emergency ordinance with the goal of limiting water use for irrigation purposes. Since then, numerous discussions have taken place with no decisions on permanent measures. At Monday’s meeting, Public Works Director Johnny Ziem presented three water items to Town Council, the first being a 25% rate hike for town water users and a 10% increase for town sewer users. The conversation touched on the town’s ability to deliver water to a development through a single metered connection instead of individual property connections. The third topic related to mandatory irrigation restrictions when necessary.
“We hear a lot from constituents about concerns about balancing the budget — ‘How come you guys can’t manage your budget?'” Councilor Kevin Regan said during the discussion. “Part of it is costs are going up and we need to charge what things cost. I think it’s also prudent to have a healthy reserve.”
According to Ziem’s presentation, a 25% hike to town water rates would result in about a $7 increase to an average household’s monthly bill in the winter, when using 10,000 gallons per month. If a household’s water usage increases to 50,000 gallons per month during the summer due to irrigation, for example, a typical water bill would increase by just over $50.
Ziem told Buckrail that Jackson’s water rates are some of the least expensive in Wyoming. But it’s difficult to convince people that water is a resource that should be managed efficiently, especially with a hot summer like last year. He used gas prices as an example of how the average person views cost-saving measures.
“When gas is cheap, we drive everywhere,” Ziem said. “Now that gas is expensive, people think, ‘How can we save money?’ It’s similar with water. For decades we’ve had cheap water, and it allows people to use it as much as they want … because their bill is small.”
He also wants people to understand what the water and sewer rates pay for in the town. It’s not just for the water that flows into a house and the waste that leaves. According to Ziem, the two biggest chunks of the budget are for operations — equipment maintenance, leak detection and pump repairs — and capital projects, like Gregory Lane and the new pump house on High School Road, both of which ran over budget and prompted a $3 million withdrawal from the reserve account. Capital project budgets are created with estimates, and many factors can affect the final cost, including inflation and labor.
When Councilmembers asked Ziem about the possibility of a phased rate hike over a couple of years, he warned that capital projects and water main replacements would likely need to be paused until the reserve account could be built back up.
“That has consequences,” he told Buckrail. “We take pride in providing great, clean water to the community. The tools we use for that are pipes, wells, pump houses. We pull water out of the aquifer and deliver it to someone’s faucet. If we’re not replacing assets then we’re kicking the can down the road.”
The irrigation ordinance discussed at Monday’s meeting would trigger tiered restrictions at a pre-determined threshold. The first phase would be a voluntary restriction in effect during irrigation season. If demand on the town’s water system exceeds the threshold, a mandatory restriction would be implemented, allowing watering on odd and even days, depending on street address. If water use continues to surpass the threshold after that, phase three would introduce a more austere mandatory restriction that allows for two days of irrigation per property per week.
These draft ordinances will come before the Town Council at a later date and will be read three times before officials vote on the measures. Public comment will be accepted at those meetings, and the regulations are expected to go into effect on June 1.
