The Owensville Board of Aldermen held a public hearing Monday night to discuss and ultimately approve increases in water and sewer rates for citizens of the city in the amount of $4 per service.

During the public hearing, City Engineer James Kolbe of Archer-Elgin Engineering shared how Owensville currently fares against other local communities regarding median household income in relation to water rates and sewer rates.

Currently placing on the lower end of the chart in comparison to neighboring towns, Owensville will remain in the lower percentile of costs compared to income even with the increase.

“So as far as our people are concerned, we’re not exactly spiking the prices…especially compared to surrounding communities — I like that,” said Ward 1 Alderman Dan Breeden.

The $4 price tag was defined by Max McLiney of Mcliney and Company, a division of SAMCO, when the bond issue was being discussed in 2025. That figure is the amount necessary to cover the bond debt related to the wastewater updates mandated by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Kolbe shared that the city has not increased water rates in over a decade.

“That requires a bigger jump than people like so we’re trying to address this and continue to look at it annually going forward to see if any adjustments will be needed because small adjustments are always easier than 12 years and having to do a larger adjustment,” he shared.

Currently, the average monthly rate is $18.20 for water and $42 for sewer rate of 5,000 gallons. With the new proposed rates at $22.20 and $46, respectively, additional revenue from the existing approximately 1,400 connections would be $5,600 monthly or $67,200 yearly for each service, in the total amount of $134,000.

The city will now wait for 30 days before passing an ordinance to make the water and sewer rates effective, expected when bills are issued at the end of June for July.