Harlingen mulls proposed 50% water rate hike

Fernando Del Valle, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas
·4 min read
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A Harlingen WaterWorks System consulting firm is proposing boosting water rates about 50% during a five-year period to help fund a $130 million sewer overhaul.

Now, city leaders are planning to launch a series of town hall meetings aimed at tapping residents' feedback into the proposal before commissioners set new water and sewer rates, City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said Tuesday.

The WaterWorks-contracted firm of Welldan consulting is proposing boosting minimum monthly costs for customers on 5/8-inch water meters from the current $7.93 to $9.91 later this year then to $23.23 by 2028.

As customers use more water, rates would climb.

The proposed rate hikes would increase average monthly charges from the current $30.58 to $33.58 later this year then to $63.53 by 2028.

Now, the city's current minimum monthly water rate stands at $7.93 on a 5/8-inch meter, plus $1.65 for an additional 1,000 gallons, while the minimum sewer rate is set at $6.18 on a 5/8-inch meter, plus $3.66 for an additional 1,000 gallons, with average utility bills charging customers about $644 a year.

For years, the city's water rates have ranked as the third lowest in the Rio Grande Valley, behind Edinburg and Mission.

After weeks of review, the consultants proposed the rate plan after presenting commissioners with four proposals.

During a meeting, Tim Skoglund, the WaterWorks System's general manager, told commissioners the proposed rate plan would give the city its best chance at landing Texas Water Development Board grants based on the agency's financially disadvantaged status.

"There is no other path to disadvantaged status, grant funding and higher scoring than that approach," he told commissioners during the March 6 meeting," referring to the consultants' proposal.

So far, he's requested the Water Development Board grant the city about $150 million, Skoglund said.

"The entire commission wants for you to leverage as much as possible these opportunities," Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda told him. "So that is something that has already been done."

Meanwhile, Commissioner Frank Morales, who cast the lone dissenting vote following the Skoglund's presentation of the proposal, requested commissioners consider more funding sources to ease ratepayers' burden.

"I don't want to say it's only the citizens of Harlingen that are going to fork this out," he said. "I want us to really explore the other options. If the citizens are going to fork out this much money, let's decrease that. We need to do right by the citizens of Harlingen."

As part of his options, Morales requested officials consider funding construction of a west side sewer plant as proposed in WaterWorks' overall master plan.

"We are growing, which means we're going to need that second wastewater plant sooner than later," he said. "It would be more cost-effective to look at the other option. That would really alleviate a lot of the stress on the east side of the expressway."

In response, Skoglund said he and consultants considered construction of a west side sewer plant when developing WaterWorks' master plan.

"We were looking at the scenario that we could add the second plant on the west," he said, referring to his staff and the consulting firm of Freese and Nichols, which he said has helped develop about 60% of the state's sewer master plans. "It's very costly. You're talking $50 million to $60 million for that project, which is in addition to the majority of the costs that are here."

As part of the sewer system's $130 million overhaul, officials are planning construction of a lift station at the site of the proposed west side sewer plant near Dixieland Road, Skoglund said.

"For the projected flows over the next 20 years, that lift station and the capacity improvements in the east would be able to handle the flows that are added," he said. "Our master plan has had a tremendous amount of thought and effort put into it."

Meanwhile, a west side plant won't stop the city's old sewer system's pipes from overflowing in the city's core, Skoglund told Morales.

For years, Skoglund has been planning one of the city's biggest projects aimed at overhauling the city's aging sewer system to make room for future growth.

In November, he unveiled the $130 million project aimed at upgrading the sewer system in which pipes are overloading, spurring some sewage overflows.

The project includes the construction of a main "interceptor" pipeline while building a deeper lift station and installing gravity lines to eliminate old lift stations, he said.