Camden Water Utility customers to see rate increase

Camden Water Utility customers will see an increase in their bills according to CWU Manager David Richardson, who cited as reason for the increase a bill passed last year by the State of Arkansas.

According to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, retail water providers must perform a rate study every five years, and implement the rates determined from the study within a year of the study's completion, or two years if the rates increase by 50% or more.

Richardson said that the City of Camden has not seen a rate increase since 2020.

"And as you know, COVID hit and inflation hit and and it hit us pretty hard in the last three years not having a rate increase. So, the first year increase is going to be maybe even a burden sometimes on some customers, but that increase on the average 4,000 gallon consumption customer in a household; they'll see on the water side that first rate increase, they'll see about a 13% increase on that water bill," Richardson said. "On the sewer side of that water bill, the scale (is) about 20% increase on that sewer bill. Sewer's higher than water in the sense that there's more customers covering the cost of water than there is sewer because we only serve inside the city limits and then our water sales go beyond the city limits and we serve five different water associations, so they can help."

Richardson said that Civil Engineering Associates of Conway completed the rate study and estimated that Camden loses about 100 people in population every year, but Richardson said that if that changes, rates could similarly adjust.

He said, "The thing that we discussed in the city council that they wanted to see on there was these projections and these proposals were based on the fact that we would continue to lose residents inside the city limits. That pattern has been there since the paper mill left us. So we anticipated that pattern would stay the same. Should the pattern change and we start seeing growth and population or we get some industry in here that uses a lot of water, then certainly that would change our finances and we would take a look at that."

Richardson said that he sympathizes with the customers that will be affected by then increase.

"I know it's going to be a burden it's not something we want to do, it's something we were forced to do. But by the same token, they receive safe drinking water right now and they'll continue to receive that safe drinking water. We provide fire protection for the city, and then of course, we provide wastewater services that clean that water back up and put it back into the Ouachita River for other users downstream."

The Camden City Council passed a resolution last Tuesday approving the rate increase, which will have a second reading at next month's meeting and a public forum to discuss the increases.

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