At its Feb. 13 meeting, the Conway City Council approved water usage rate increases that will affect off-campus students’ water bills and UCA’s cost of operations.
“Our last rate proposal that we brought was 2016,” Erin Brown, chief financial officer at Conway Corp, said.
“We have had inflationary cost increases that have been unexpected over the past few years that I know everyone has been feeling,” he said. “Our 2024 budgeted operations and maintenance expenses are up 35% compared to 2019.”
“We also want to promote conservation,” he said.
“We would also like to ask to add watershed protection; this will be a new section in the rates,” he said.
Brown said the watershed protection efforts Conway Corp is undertaking will include “timber thinning and controlled burning” as well as “tree planting.”
He said the rate increases will also help Conway Corp fix “aging water mains.”
“We also need to meet the needs of the growing city. I know that Conway was the fastest-growing city in Arkansas in 2022,” he said.
“We also have a contract with UCA to monitor water quality that has been in place since 2019,” he said.
Brown said the 7% rate increase Conway Corp proposed would extend the city-owned utilities company’s days cash on hand.
Conway Corp proposed the 7% rate increase for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
“If you look at our average customer who uses approximately 5,000 gallons per month, that would be a bill of about $28. With this increase, that would bump it up to $31, so you’re looking at approximately a $3 increase, and again this amount includes the watershed protection fee,” Brown said.
“I just want to applaud Conway Corporation for being proactive as usual in addressing the needs of a growing community. Honestly, nothing is more important to any community than a clean, safe, dependable source of water,”David Grimes, a city council member, said. “If you don’t take care of it [infrastructure], you’re gonna pay a lot more later.”
According to the ordinance, which the city council unanimously approved, the new water rates will take effect April 1.
According to records provided by the physical plant, UCA used about 94 million gallons of water in 2023, costing the university $713,828.75.
In 2022, UCA used about 84.8 million gallons, costing $670,378.16.
In January, the campus used about 4.4 million gallons, costing $40,449.73; assuming UCA’s water usage remains the same as 2023 for the rest of 2024, with a 7% bill increase starting in April, UCA will pay $761,223.26 to Conway Corp, not including watershed protection fees.