It\u2019s almost official: At its March 3 meeting, Scottsdale City Council gave the thumbs up to staff-recommended water, wastewater, garbage collection and other rate increases.<\/p>\n
But the final step in the process remains two months away, after a May 19 public hearing \u2013 and likely adoption of the increases.<\/p>\n
The March 3 vote was hardly a surprise, as two weeks earlier, City Council unanimously approved a \u201cnotice of intention to increase water and wastewater rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the agenda information, \u201cThe city is proposing a 4.5% water rate increase and a 3.5% sewer rate increase for fiscal year 26\/27.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scottsdale City Council heard a presentation on a 2% increase in monthly trash collection rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(City of Scottsdale)<\/p>\n
Though the average resident would pay an extra $5.21 per month starting this fall, Scottsdale\u2019s water and sewer rates are second-best in the Valley. Only Chandler, at $72.31 per month, beats the $129.79 Scottsdale charges its average water\/sewer user.<\/p>\n
Peoria ($134.47), Tempe ($147.31), Phoenix ($154.70), Glendale ($167.84), Mesa ($169.56) and Gilbert ($180.82) all charge more for 16,000 gallons of water and 11,000 gallons of wastewater, according to Scottsdale staff information.<\/p>\n
Council also gave nods of approval to raising residential garbage collection by 2%, from $31.78 to $32.42 monthly.<\/p>\n
If Council continues to move forward on the administration\u2019s request, sewer rate increases would go into effect July 1, with the water increase coming Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
According to a memo from Sonia Andrews, Scottsdale\u2019s treasurer, \u201cThese increases were determined by the Water Resources Department using a five-year rate model to calculate revenue requirements for upcoming water and sewer operating and capital needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rate increases, Andrews noted, \u201cdo not include funding for capital projects that do not have accurate cost projections and capital projects that are still being defined.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Even with a proposed increase, water and sewer rates paid by Scottsdale residents are among the lowest around the Valley.<\/p>\n
(City of Scottsdale)<\/p>\n
More increases could be on the horizon:<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the Water Department refines the capital projects and related needs, the water and sewer five-year financial plans and rate models will be updated,\u201d Andrews noted.<\/p>\n
Andrews is asking Council to approve a \u201cnotice of intention to modify rates and miscellaneous water charges\u201d and schedule a May 19 public hearing on the proposed changes.<\/p>\n
According to a staff report by David Walby, the city\u2019s interim Water Resources senior director, water rate increases are required by:<\/p>\n
Operating cost increases for raw water to include current drought pricing, put in place by Central Arizona Project (CAP);<\/p>\n
Costs associated with additional water source and supply;<\/p>\n
Operating cost increases for electricity in the Arizona Public Service (APS) service area;<\/p>\n
Increasing cost for replacing and repairing aging infrastructure;<\/p>\n
Operating cost increases for personnel services and benefits.<\/p>\n
Like other cities around the Valley, utility rates are trending sharply upwards, here.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Scottsdale implemented a 4.5% water fee increase and 6% sewer fees increase.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Scottsdale residents saw their water rates increase by 6.3% and sewer rates go up 8%.<\/p>\n
In 2023, increases were 4.2% for water and 5.8% for sewer.<\/p>\n
According to a presentation last year, even after the increases, Scottsdale\u2019s rates were on the low end, compared to other Valley cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s almost official: At its March 3 meeting, Scottsdale City Council gave the thumbs up to staff-recommended water,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":652260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,40201,1587,147197,261231,56758,1589,7600,276757,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,527,42632],"class_list":["post-652259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-public-service","tag-az","tag-central-arizona-project","tag-david-walby","tag-garbage","tag-phoenix","tag-scottsdale","tag-sonia-andrews","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-water","tag-water-department"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116220938441354304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}