The City of Prescott’s 3 percent water rate increase takes effect Jan. 1.

The city council took action last Monday night to move forward with the simplified increase.

The increase is necessary because the city is paying $475,000 for a water tower project out of its utility reserves.

“It will bring the balance way down,” said City Administrator Jayne Brand.

The increase will only bring in about $14,064, and a rate study may be necessary in the near future to see if another increase is necessary.

“It doesn’t amount to a lot of money. When you see the water budget, we’re going to need all the help we can get,” said Brand.

“Every little bit helps,” said Mayor David Hovel.

The Notice of Rate Increase is published in the Public Notice section of this edition of The Journal.

The average residential user – with 12,000 gallons of water usage – will see a quarterly rate increase for $33.08 to $34.13.

A large residential user with 18,500 gallons of usage will see an increase from $45.11 to $46.55 per quarter. The projected commercial increase for 58,000 gallons of water usage would rise from $129.05 to $133.18.

The largest industrial users, with 860,000 gallons of water, would see a quarterly increase to $1,043.06 from $1,010.54.