From the Loveland Reporter-Herald (Tom Hacker):
Loveland water bills will rise. A lot. Maybe they will triple within eight years. But among 18 Colorado Front Range communities, the city’s water rates are the lowest…
Councilors have spent a year, including nearly four hours on Tuesday night, pondering how to pay for about $50 million covering water treatment plant expansion and replacement of old water lines that leak so often that crews do little else but patchwork. After yet another session with the city’s water managers, they listened to chairmen of public boards who have unanimously recommended courses of action. The conclusion of the Loveland Utilities Commission: Sell bonds that have a 30-year term, raising $16 million to take care of immediate needs…
Councilors in December will buckle down to the business of setting water rates to cover whatever solution they agree upon.
Meanwhile the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District raised tap fees last week. Here’s a report from Kevin Duggan writing for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Here’s an excerpt:
The Fort Collins-Loveland Water District, which provides water to much of the area south of Harmony Road, north of Loveland and west of the Larimer-Weld county line, last week raised the cost to connect water to a new home from $16,000 to $18,000.
The bump will go into effect gradually, with an extra $1,000 to cover the cost of acquiring water beginning Feb. 1 and an additional $1,000 to support the district’s water delivery infrastructure beginning June 1.
The higher fees are needed to cover the rising expense of water and the demand for new service in the district’s coverage area, said Mike DiTullio, the district’s longtime manager.
The district has provided about 500 new connections — called taps — this year, he said. About 200 have come from the Timnath area; other hotspots are around Provincetowne and Observatory Village in south Fort Collins.
More infrastructure coverage here.