A few concerned citizens and business owners spoke at a public hearing on Bloomington’s proposed water rate hike on Wednesday evening.
The City of Bloomington Utilities wants to increase rates to cover rising operational and infrastructure costs.
Rodney Ira, a resident who lives near Lake Monroe, said he had to spend $50,000 to get clean water to his house, so he understands that it’s an expensive undertaking to improve water facilities.
“The rates could be exorbitant if they're all passed, but I want to see parity,” he said. “I want to see IU pay their part.”
Residents could see their bills increase by roughly 20 percent, while businesses and IU would see an increase around 50 percent. The rate hikes would increase the water utility's annual operating revenue by $6.5 million.
Aubrey Williams, a co-founder at Heartwork Brewing, said that increasing the water rate for small businesses the same as large businesses would be unfair.
“A few $1,000 to a large entity is absorbed as a routine expense,” she said. “But we produce 1/1000 the amount of beer that even our largest local friends produce.”
She said that the current proposal would increase the brewery's annual water bill by almost $3000.
The Bloomington Chamber of Commerce echoed her testimony, saying that while long term investment in water infrastructure is necessary, they would like to see the increase levied incrementally.
“Adding increases of this magnitude, especially all at once, will intensify the strain on both households and employers,” said chamber president Eric Spoonmoore. “This negatively affects our competitiveness as a community for economic development and critical workforce attraction efforts.”
A final decision on a water rate increase is expected later this summer.
