(Milford)– Customers of the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District will be seeing a series of rate increases in coming years, with the first one being effective this coming July 1st, 2026. Steve Anderson, who oversees the Sanitary District, tells KUOO news the annual increases will be carried out in increments each year over the next five years…
“The last rate increase was in 2023 and the trustees decided that we should probably be making small, incremental adjustments over time because it’s a lot easier to do than if we wait for a long period of time and then make a big increase. This increase, we looked out five years for equipment and other costs that we know are coming down the road for the next five years and that’s how we based those incremental increases on.”
Anderson says continued development through the lakes corridor also plays a factor…
“The continued growth means that we’re going to need more equipment down the road eventually. We’ll need to do more replacement of equipment because it gets worn out quicker.”
Anderson adds even though the additional development brings new customers to the sanitary district, it still isn’t enough to keep up with costs which only continue to rise…
“Parts that used to be one hundred bucks are now 500 dollars and when you’ve got 64 lift stations and 156 pumps sitting out there to move the wastewater, they’ve all got different controls and things like that, all of those costs are going up on those. We have to maintain generators and all those things add up. We’re just trying to stay ahead of that curve as well as make sure that we’ve got the right equipment and that the equipment is functioning for maintaining the sewer system and keeping it flowing.”
The amount of the rate increases is dependent upon several factors including water usage and classification. You can find more details by clicking here.
