LEWISTON – City councilors couldn’t get comfortable with a 22 percent hike in water rates Thursday.

That didn’t stop them from moving the increase along in the process, however. They scheduled a public hearing on the matter for May 15.

“Normally, if we increase water rates, it’s by a pretty small amount,” Councilor Ron Jean said. “But this seems huge. It may not amount to a big amount of money, but the percentage increase seems very high.”

The city increased water rates in 2005 by 15 percent. That fact, and increased maintenance and debt service costs for the water district, are behind the proposed increase, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

Bennett blamed two new water reservoirs – on Ferry and Webber roads – as well emergency repairs to small water mains around the city last summer for higher costs. Those issues pushed debt service costs alone up nearly $500,000.

“We told councilors that these things all had a cost, and they’d have to be paid,” Bennett said.

Councilor Lillian O’Brien agreed.

“We built new reservoirs because we had to; we repaired those water lines because we had to, and this is where we are,” she said.

Rate impacts

The biggest question facing councilors was how to distribute the increase among water customers. Councilors opted for a plan that gives smaller water users a smaller rate increase. Customers who use millions of gallons of water per year will see big increases.

For example, customers using 1,600 cubic feet of water per quarter – roughly 4,000 gallons per month – would see their bill increase about $20 per year. Bennett said that’s a typical household of four, with two teenagers.

Industrial water users would bear the brunt of the increase. Users such as White Rock Distilleries would see water bills increase about $7,800 per year. That’s a 35 percent increase.

That’s what made Ward 6 Councilor Mark Paradis disagree.

“I just know that most of these businesses are in my ward,” Paradis said. “I’m going to get scalped if we go through with this.”

Bennett disagreed.

“Without the improvements we made, without the new reservoir, they could not have gotten what they needed,” Bennett said.

The city will submit the rate proposal to the Maine Public Utilities Commission immediately and should begin mailing rate notices to customers on April 30. A public hearing on the increase is scheduled on May 15. Higher rates begin on July 1.