BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont City Council has voted to increase water and sewer rates.
During the meeting on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, council members voted to increase of water rates by 4% and sewer rates by 10%.
On August 8, 2023, council members met to discuss the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, which includes the topic of increasing water and sewer rates to support the city's five-year community investment plan.
The city hired a consulting firm called HDR to do a study on water rates and they recommended the rate increase.
Beaumont Chief Financial Officer Todd Simoneaux says the city's saving account or fund balance needs to be increased from 15% to 25%.
Officials say the increase in minimum required fund balance is necessary in order to meet the concerns of rating agencies when the goes to the market to issue water and sewer revenue bonds.
As operating costs within the fund continue to rise due to inflation and employee increases, it is necessary to increase the revenues of the fund as well.
The owner of Calder Cleaners in Beaumont, John Fears, went before city council members Tuesday to speak out against the new increase in water rates.
"White clothes become brown clothes by the time it's all over with. This morning the water that I saw was just horrible. I mean it looked like coffee," he said. "I had to shut down my business today because of the city supplied water. I pay for water I can't even use."
A customer using an average of 5,000 gallons per month would see an increase in their bill by $4.80 per month from $70.06 per month to $74.86 per month.
Beaumont Mayor Roy West and Public Works Director Bart Bartkowiak sympathize with residents, but say the change is necessary.
"So we have to raise rates if we would have just kicked the can down the road it would have been a greater increase later on," West said.
"We've been spending money to maintain the water system, to do water and sewer improvement projects as well and we've been digging into what is in essence our savings account," Bartkowiak said.
Bartkowiak says, the city needs to raise rates to rebuild the city's fund. That money is what is used incase of a natural disaster.
City leaders say it's common for water rates to increase over time.
From 2008 until 2015, there was an average increase in water and sewer rates of 6.25%. Between 2016 and 2023, the city increased rates four times.
Bartkowiak says this most recent increase is part of a five-year plan to build new infrastructure.
"Collier's Ferry raw water pump station , new sewer station as well as water line replacement," he said.
But for people who have had to deal with water concerns all summer, it's a tough pill to swallow.
"It irritates the hell out of me, but there's nothing I can do about it," Fears said. "I think they need to take care of the infrastructure first before they start raising rates. this is going to be a long standing problem everyone is going to have to deal with."
Fears says he contacted 311 Tuesday and the city came out and flushed his lines. Now, the problem is fixed.
This vote comes on the day the City of Beaumont planned to convert back to using chloramines to disinfect its drinking water after using “free chlorine” for the past 20 days.
The switch to the stronger disinfectant as the two mix in the system is what causes the bad taste and odor according to the city. The water has and will remain safe and drinkable throughout according to city officials.
With the switch back as the two different disinfectants will mix again so residents and businesses can expect more taste and order issues according to City of Beaumont Communication Director Lauren Monitz.
It’s the same process that the city began in late August, but in reverse, according to Monitz.
Beaumont water users can expect the water issues over the next few days as the switch back is made but the water should be back to normal in about a week Monitz told 12News.
Officials previously said that the city needed to use a different disinfectant because they are having to pull more water from wells in Hardin County because of the drought and the extreme heat
On Friday, Mayor Roy West announced he was issuing a disaster declaration for the city due to the drought and asked residents to pray for rain.
West went on to invite all residents to gather outside of city hall on Wednesday at 10 a.m. to pray for rain to end the drought and to pray for the strength and grace to deal with whatever comes next.
The Beaumont City Council will consider adopting the disaster declaration at its meeting on Tuesday according to another Facebook post by the city on Monday morning.
Saying that city crews are working hard and prioritizing leaks, the Sunday evening post noted that the city is still dealing with many water line breaks due to the drought and heat.
Stage three mandatory water restrictions also remain for residents and businesses in Beaumont.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.