rural water cost comparisons

Last year this board spent $43k to buy software to calculate future rate increases and justify it with fancy graphs.  According to the initial presentation, the software is projecting an average monthly bill increase per year of $7.14. 

Water rates over the past 5 years:
2018 - $7.45/1,000 gallons

2019 - $7.60/1,000 gallons

2020 - $8.30/1,000 gallons

2021 - $9.30/1,000 gallons

2022 - $9.58/1,000 gallons

2023 - $9.83/1,000 gallons

Each month, $1 is collected from every user to go into a scholarship fund.  Scholarship recipients need to write a 400-500 word essay describing the importance of water.  Four $1,000 scholarships are awarded each year.  As of May 2023, the fund has grown to $320,000.

You probably don't know that the $1 Water Cents fee added monthly is actually VOLUNTARY!  

We have 4,800 users.   If everyone contributes, that would mean $57,600 is added to the fund every year. 

Email NPRWD today, and ask to quit contributing.  

At the rate scholarships are given out, we can all quit donating today and still give out more than 70 years of scholarships. 

In 2014, users were paying a base rate of $37 and were told that expanding the water district would add density. Adding new members would keep the minimum rates stable or even go down.  Instead, 9 years later we have the most expensive rural water in all of ND.

I wish I could say that I have a plan to lower our water rates, but I don’t know if it’s possible.  We have borrowed nearly to our maximum capacity. 35% of our income goes to pay minimum payments on our $30M in debt. 

Historical Base rates:

2014 - $37/month

2018 - $49/month

2019 - $54 or $65/month