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Taking Baseball Back to its Roots: The Alpine Cowboys 5/25/13
Midland City Council Approves Study For New Sewage Fee System 11/13/12
CBS 7 News
Robert Guaderrama
rguaderrama@cbs7.com
November 13, 2012
MIDLAND, TX - Midlanders may soon see an increase on their water bills. Today City Council voted to move forward with a study in hopes of launching a new sewage rate system. Midland Mayor Wes Perry tells us the sewage system just isn't paying for itself, which is why city officials are looking to charge water and sewer separately, rather than one fee for both.
Prior to this change, Midlanders have paid a flat rate for sewer but that rate hasn't been paying the cost associated with running the sewer program. Council approved city staff to move forward with a study this winter to determine new rates for next year. The City will measure the amount of water you use this winter, December, January and February when people usually do not irrigate to determine how much water users are putting down the drain.
City staff will then take the average of the two months with the lowest water usage to determine a resident's average usage. The City says this is the only system they can use because there is no meter on the sewer line but there is on the water line. Once the data is collected, your individual water output will decide your bill. City leaders say this is simply charging people for the demand they put on the sewer system. This means that some Midlanders will see a spike in their sewage bill, for other's their bill may go down. It all depends on what they use.
Again, the City will be using this winter's water usage to determine each household sewage rates. The new system goes into effect October of 2013. This sewage fee system is similar to one the City Odessa currently uses.