The City of Jacksonville recently had a new 20-year Water Master Plan written, addressing planning and updating the water infrastructure throughout the city as required by the State of Oregon. Jacksonville purchases its water from the Medford Water Commission and the city owns and maintains a water distribution system that includes 4 storage reservoirs, 3 pump stations and over 29 miles of piping.
The master plan includes a financial analysis and rate study of projected revenue the city will need to support operations and improvement plans as well as providing the requisite debt service coverage for the lending institutions. The city wants to be proactive with their water fund and make sure it can meet all necessary requirements. In general, it was found that the current rates do not provide adequate funding to maintain a healthy and consistent balance in the water fund.
The water base rate charged to our customers has not increased in over 20 years. The city has a goal to set aside enough money to meet funding requirements for these capital improvement projects (CIP) and it is planned to increase the base rates charged by $10 to $15 this coming year. All projects in the CIP are important and none are considered as optional. Even with this increase, our water rates are well below the State’s average water billing rates.
The highest priorities in the CIP, costing about $1.2 million, include upgrades in two pump stations including emergency power, and much-needed water line replacements in several neighborhoods. Future, less urgent projects, costing about $4.8 million, include a new 750,000 gallon reservoir and several areas where new water lines are needed. The city cannot undertake all projects simultaneously and not all projects are as critical as the next. With the State approved Water Master Plan, the city can address the needs of our water system’s operation now and for the future and is taking steps to provide for those needs.
Posted May 2, 2014