MASON CITY – The city notified the public today that rate hikes associated with water and sanitation services will take affect July 1.
Effective with the July 1, 2014 sanitation billing, $10.05 per month shall be charged by the City and collected from each single-family dwelling and each separate dwelling unit within a multiple-family dwelling. Current average sanitation bill is $9.60 per month. The new rate is a 4.69% increase.
Effective with the July 1, 2014 billing date, water shall be furnished at the following monthly rate which shall include an administrative charge of $5.83 per meter:
New rates (Per 100 Cubic Feet):
Cubic Feet – Net – Gross
First 1,000 – 3.713 – 4.126
Next 2,000 – 3.156 – 3.507
All over 3,000 – 2.042 – 2.269
Expiring rates:
| Cubic Feet | Net | Gross |
| First 1,000 | 3.593 | 3.992 |
| Next 2,000 | 3.054 | 3.393 |
| All over 3,000 | 1.976 | 2.196 |
According to Finance Director Kevin Jacobson, “the budget process started out as having the water [rate increase] at around 6% increase, but was reduced to 3.36% for [2014-2015] and then I would have to increase approximately 3.5% for [2015-2016] due to restructuring the debt payments for the first two years for the water tower.”
Current average water bill in Mason City is $24.25, before the increase.
Regardless of the quantity of water used, there shall be a minimum charge, dependent upon the meter size, of the following amounts:
Meter Size Per Month
5/8″ (15.9mm)$ 15.08
3/4″ (19mm)$ 24.40
1″ (2.5cm)$ 42.96
1 1/2″ (3.8cm)$ 90.30
2″ (5cm)$ 197.97
3″ (7.6cm)$ 402.17
4″ (10cm)$1,239.39
6″ (15.2cm)$2,495.22
8″ (20.3cm)$2,944.46
[poll random]
I’m very conservative with water. One-person household and my bill (water, sewer, garbage) runs around $37 per month. I only do laundry when I have a full load. Same with my dishwasher. I don’t water my lawn. I take short showers and sometimes just a “sponge” bath to freshen up. Americans are too obsessed with cleanliness. If you use antiperspirant and just freshen up you’ll save a lot on your water bill. However, if you have a household full of teenage girls you do have my sympathy…
I have a 5 person household and it’s $60-65 per month. I really don’t think that’s bad for water, sewer and garbage. We take a lot of showers and do a lot of laundry. We don’t have a pool or run lawn sprinklers like some people do.
Four person household and our runs about $80…high efficiency washing machine and dishwasher…still seems high!
Our water bill is already almost $100. It’s ridiculous! There’s no way water should cost that much.
Go get it from the Winnebago yourself, then it’ll be free. Stop taking so many showers, washing so many clothes.
I wanna know why they say the average water bill is only $24.25? our water and sanitation bill is right around $100 per month. I wanna know who here has a a water bill of only $24
I’m guessing that’s just their water bill, and doesn’t include sewer & garbage. I pay the minimum amount each month for all three services and it’s around $37 a month. No one gets by for less than that.
6% rate increase on water and 10% increase on taxes. Great job by the city council. Then add on the tax increase because of over spending by the school system and no one can afford to live in this dump of a town except the people on welfare.
Don’t forget that Eric Bookmeyer, Anita Micich and Jay Urdahl are sending City Assessor Dana Naumann to our homes and businesses to re-assess our property values, and I think you can take a guess which way most of those assessment will go. Our tax increases have only just begun.
@Matt-they did that about 10 years ago and raised the value of my home about $40,000. If I could sell it for anywhere near what they have it valued at I would be gone. They didn’t drop the value in the recession when the actual value dropped by 45%. Damn bunch of crooks.
Cheers to all.have pizza