COLUMBIA, Missouri (KMIZ)

A group from Columbia is unhappy with the city council after it unanimously approved a water rate increase at its meeting Monday evening.

Julie Ryan of the COMO Safe Water Coalition believes the City Council has failed to hold public utilities accountable for the lack of progress on several projects that were part of a bond issue passed in 2018. That includes the failure to purchase land for a new water tower in southwest Columbia and the slow progress on upgrading the water treatment plant, which she says should have been completed three years ago.

“The council has given them a rate increase, and what are we going to expect from that? We’re going to see less work getting done, and they’re just going to get the rate increase and be able to use it for other things. And we’re not really confident about that,” Ryan said.

Ryan says the COMO Safe Water Coalition supports rate increases if they result in improvements in water quality, but she believes the only reason for the rate increase was the city’s inability to efficiently complete projects.

“The problem is that they had some of the funds to complete these projects and then they were no longer available. And then they had to reallocate money to cover the increased construction costs for the water treatment plant,” Ryan explained. “So why are we as ratepayers having to pay for their inability to complete projects on time when we shouldn’t be responsible for that?”

Despite the interest rate hikes, Ryan is still not convinced that Columbia can complete the water projects in the 2018 bond.

“The problem right now is also that we’re setting this precedent to have more work done on the water treatment plant that needs to be done and they’re going to have to take out another bond,” Ryan said. “I don’t know of anyone right now who could in good conscience vote for another bond when they obviously haven’t implemented and accomplished the projects that it’s going to complete.”

The council had discussed the rate increases for the 2025 fiscal year this summer and received public feedback over several weeks. The city had approved rate increases for 2022 and 2023.

According to the municipal council’s announcement, water tariffs will increase as follows:

• 4% increase in basic fees
• 4% increase in residential Tier 1
• 4% increase in commercial Tier 1
• 4.5% increase at the airport
• 4.5% increase in summer stage 2
• 10% increase in summer stage 3
• 10% more irrigation in summer

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe discussed the reasons for the fare increase during Monday’s city council meeting.

“When I look back when we took the break, I see now what that meant for debt coverage and the fees that we had to pay, which was the 274,000, and so I’m also grateful for the communication that we did outwardly about the need for this measure and the process of bringing it to council, having multiple work sessions and then bringing it to us,” Buffaloe said. “I also want to stress that I was very grateful to staff for putting together the bill calculator where you could plug in your own numbers to see what impact it would have on your proposed bill. I think that was really useful.”

You can estimate how much these changes will affect a resident’s bill using the water bill calculator available here. For most residents, the cost increase will be small.

“Someone from the first station approached me and was concerned. The staff helped me explain to him that there was going to be a 94 cent increase and he said, ‘Oh, that’s not so bad,'” Buffaloe said.

The mayor also addressed the allegation that the city is not on top of its projects. She asked city staff to better inform the council and notify them when a problem arises so they can proactively work to resolve it.

But Ryan believes part of the problem is that city leaders aren’t better informed to begin with.

“There’s no sugarcoating this ineffectiveness. I don’t think we’re going to see the things we want to see. I don’t think we’re going to see anything done. And I think if we don’t continue to come to council and point this out, I don’t see anyone on council taking responsibility,” Ryan said. “That’s one thing we’ve been calling for. One of you on council should take responsibility for this and say, ‘Hey, I want to make sure we follow through on this, and I want to do this on behalf of my council members. I want to make sure we see this.’ I really don’t think we’re seeing that. I think we sometimes hear members of the city council say, ‘Oh yeah, we need to make sure this happens.’

Check back later for updates.