KINGMAN — The Kingman City Council voted at its last meeting on several fee and rate increases to a wide range of municipal services. The rate and fee changes are intended to address revenue deficits that have grown due to rising costs for materials, electricity, and many other things.
The most controversial item was the increase to the water rates in Kingman. Although water revenues have increased, city staff says that costs have risen as well. Deputy City Manager and Finance Director Tina Milone presented the case for each of the items to the board, including a 13% increase to the water rate. The city also approved a 20% increase to the Capital Renewal Fee, which pays for infrastructure improvements like installing new service lines.
The cost of electricity rose by $780,000 over the previous year, Milone told the board at the meeting, which she attributed to increasing demand. City staff ruled out the possibility of faulty metering as a cause for the increase. They are still investigating to find options that might reduce this rapid increase in the expense of electricity.
Overtime was also up $140,000. Milone attributed this to ongoing water leak issues coming into the year which have not been fully addressed yet.
Overall, the average monthly rate for a resident with a 5/8 inch meter and 6,000 gallon usage will rise from $33.39 to $38.12. Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City rates are $27.15 and $20.16 respectively. These rates were approved and go into effect July 1.
The proposal met with some resistance among residents that spoke at the meeting. One concern with the proposal was the lack of details. One resident asked if developers pay the cost of new infrastructure, or if Kingman residents are having to pay for it. Milone pointed out that developers pay capacity fees, which pay for new infrastructure projects.
Another resident asked if water revenue goes into the general fund, or if it goes toward water management. Water, wastewater and solid waste revenues do partially go into the general fund to pay for staff, Milone said.
Another service that increased its fees was solid waste. Prior to the meeting, the city conducted a survey of 2,400 residents and asked about which options they would prefer. When asked if residents would rather pay less for a once-a-week trash pickup or pay more to continue with twice-a-week pickup, more than two-thirds preferred the latter.
The approved proposal resulted in a 6.5% increase for residents. Commercial customers also face a 20% increase if they have two collections a week or three collections for a 1.5 cubic yard shared container.
The city also looked at options for recycling. Rather than doing recycling pickups, city staff proposed having one recycling drop-off depot that would cost users $7.53 per load regardless of size. One box of recycling would cost the same as an entire truck bed load.
A Green Waste Program was also evaluated, which would include such items as wood chips, but it would cost $230,000 per year. The Green Waste Program was considered too expensive and was not part of the proposed changes.
Finally, city staff also recommended updating its fee schedule and changing how credit card fees are paid for. The City of Kingman absorbed $300,000 worth of credit card fees last year, mostly from public utility payments like water and electricity. After a vote on this item, this fee will now be paid by the residents and is estimated to cost around $1 per month, per resident.
The updated fee schedule for various other services has not been updated since February of 2018 and the new prices will go into effect July 1. These fees include fire services, golf course fees, parks and recreation fees, building and permitting fees, engineering fees, police services, special event permit fees, tourism fees, and the Kingman Area Regional Transit (KART) fees.
Alan Hayman
