During its regular meeting on Feb. 15, the Mountain Home City Council voted to raise water and sewer rates. While this is not an uncommon practice, the rate at which the sewer rate was raised, over 20%, was uncommonly high. But, Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams says the city was forced to do it because of legislation enacted several years ago.
The Arkansas Legislature passed Act 605 in 2021 which basically means cities that operate both water and wastewater systems, must have them operate self sufficiently by July 1, 2026. Many cities, including Mountain Home, have used income from their water department to offset the deficit their sewer department has operated at for years.
Mayor Adams says the Mountain Home City Council in 2017 made the move to increase water and sewer rates based on the Consumer Price Index, which helped.
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But Adams says when Act 605 was passed, that changed what the city had wanted to do.
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The Mountain Home mayor says he understands the thinking behind Act 605, so cities can take care of infrastructure.
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There are lots of questions about what will happen if cities are not in compliance by July 1, 2026. Adams says as of right now, there are not a lot of answers.
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The Mountain Home City Council approved a 21.7% increase in sewer rates while water rates went up 3.7%.
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