Havre council Water and Sewer Committee meeting Thursday

Havre City Council’s Water and Sewer Committee will hold a meeting Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in Havre City Hall to hold a discussion on City of Havre water.

The meeting is scheduled to be held in the back meeting room in City Hall, to be moved downstairs to the Emergency Operations Center room if too many people attend to fit in the meeting room.

The city is looking at upgrades to its treatment plants and is proposing an increase to the city water and sewer rates which Mayor Doug Kaercher said during a May 2 meeting would average about a $100-a-year increase, slightly less than $9-a-month, increase for an average user in Havre.

Kaercher said the increase is necessary due to the need for upgrades and due to inflation and increased costs such as for chemicals used to treat the water.

The last increase was in 2018 and was a bit smaller than this, partly because city planned to do a rate increase every two years but the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the city wasn’t able to do an increase in 2020.

This year’s increase would make up that amount.

He said the increase for the sewer rate is not as much for operations but the city is having trouble meeting its income requirement for the bond used for a sewer upgrade, and could miss that by the end of the year. If that happens, the bonds could be recalled at any time.

Kaercher also confirmed that the city is required to replace lead water lines, which Havre Public Works reports is about 185 lines.