Prairie City trying not to burden residents with rising costs
By Logan Bagett on Monday, February 19th, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
PRAIRIE CITY – The City of Prairie City discussed water rates at their last City Council meeting. Last month, on Coffee Time, former Mayor Scott Officer informed listeners that due to rising costs, the town would be facing a deficit in funding to operate the city water system come fiscal year 2025. According to Officer, the deficit translates to around $5 monthly per meter.
Instead of increasing water payers’ bills every month or decreasing the number of gallons in the base rate, the council opted to draft a resolution that would explore other avenues for ensuring enough funding. Some ideas being tossed around include setting a base-rate-per-dwelling policy, adjusting the “Snowbird Fee,” and setting a higher rate for non-taxpayer entities in town like the school and Forest Service.
The current city council with Mayor Ed Clark will hold a work session on March 6th to discuss the future resolution.
