December 11, 2018
Bondurant city leaders have decided not to add a new $5 monthly fee to most water bills next year after hearing concerns from residents.
The city was considering charging the new "handling fee" to water customers who receive their bills by mail as a way to cover increasing staffing demands associated with paper billing and encourage more people to go paperless.
The Bondurant City Council decided to table the idea Tuesday as it took up the second reading of a water rate increase that will raise rates 14 cents per 1,000 gallons and add 14 cents to the city's monthly service availability charge.
The proposed $5 fee would have been on top of that rate increase.
City Administrator Marketa Oliver said some residents who attended the meeting expressed concern the increase would unfairly affect people who are low-income or don't have access to computers.
She said the city now instead plans to continue campaigning for residents to switch to online billing and looking into alternatives to the handling fee.
