Indian Hills raises water rate $17.77

A $17.77 monthly water fee increase was approved 4-1 by Indian Hills General Improvement District trustees on Monday before a full house of residents.

The approval will raise the monthly fee for water to $24.16, in addition to the $1.95 per 1,000 gallons usage fee.

Estimates are 70-80 people attended the meeting to argue against the fee increase, part of which will go to pay to connect to a pipeline from Minden to Carson City.

According to documents distributed by the district, $9.31 of the increase will go to pay off three revenue bonds that funded utility expansions in 2000, 2003 and 2007.

The cost of connecting to the pipeline will be $13.06 a month per resident. Another $1.79 per resident per month would go to cover a shortfall in the district's budget.

Prior to Monday, district residents paid $6.39 a month for their service fee. The fee hadn't been increased over the past five years, according to district manager Jim Taylor.

Sunridge resident Lynda Hemmings said there were 75 people at the meeting.

Hemmings said she posted fliers about the meeting in her neighborhood, because she felt the notice was inadequate.

"A dozen people spoke," she said. "There was a lot of folks talking about being on fixed incomes."

Part of the motivation for increasing water costs is to pay for the pipeline which will solve Indian Hills' arsenic problem.

The district's water tests above the federal standards for arsenic adopted earlier this decade. The district has spent years working on a proposed arsenic treatment plant before the opportunity to connect to the pipeline arrived.

District board members voted in July to connect to the pipeline, and are working on an agreement with Douglas County for water.

Should the district connect to the pipeline, it would likely shut down its water operations, according to Taylor.

Indian Hills is expected to pay 23.73 percent of the costs of bringing the 30-inch pipeline north from Heybourne Road and then all of the cost for an 18-inch pipeline from the main line to Indian Hills.