KINGFIELD – Trustees of the Water District is scheduled to hold a public hearing on a rate increase Monday.

The proposed rate hike ranges from 6.6 percent for public fire protection to 13.6 percent for commercial customers. Residential users are expected to see a 10 percent increase and industrial users a 12.7 percent rise in rates.

The hearing is planned for 7 p.m. at the Webster Hall.

Since the last implemented rate increase in 1994, the district has been subjected to significant increases in operating costs and reductions in supplementary revenues, according to a newspaper notice.

Over the past 10 years, labor costs and related employee benefits, procedural changes in mandated water testing, treatment chemicals have all been subject to a rate of increase in excess of the growth of distribution and fire protection revenues, the notice states.

Trustee Chairman Robert Barnes said the existing base rate for residential customers is $42 for 6,000 gallons. The base rate is expected to increase by $4.20. The rate increase to the customer would depend on how much water they used. State Deputy Public Advocate Bill Black said the 6.6 percent increase for public fire protection for fire hydrants would increase about $3,329.

The town of Kingfield currently pays $50,791 in fire hydrant fees to the district. That amount would increase to $54,120 under the new rate proposal, Black said.

The increase, if approved, would go into effect April 1.

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