SAPULPA, Okla. — For the 25,000 people who live in Sapulpa, the water bill is going up starting this spring. 2 News Oklahoma’s Naomi Keitt listened to people in town about the price hike and sat down with city leaders to learn why they’re raising rates.
“He’s retired military, and he decided he wanted to come back home so this is where we’re at,” said Kimberly Taylor.
Kimberly Taylor and her husband have lived in Sapulpa for the last year. She says it’s a community that’s getting a bit more expensive every year.
“I understand everything is going up,” said Taylor. “If it’s not this, it’s that. It’s something every week you hear about something going up and I can’t imagine how people can continue to live like this. I just can’t.”
The latest price hike is the water bill. Sapulpa City Councilors approved the increase on Jan 6.
The base water rate is going up 30%. The incremental rate will increase 10%.
Read the list of Sapulpa utility rates here
The city says, on average for 1,000-gallon usage, homeowners are paying about $56.57 right now. After the price hike, that same home would pay about $62.53 a month. It’s a roughly 10.5% increase overall.
“You’re in a neighborhood where most of us are retirees and I can’t imagine us having to pay more out of our [pocket]…we just make a regular income every month,” said Taylor.
After hearing from concerned neighbors, 2 News interviewed the city’s finance director to learn why they approved these rate hikes.
“We’re not just going up on rates just to go up on rates,” said Joe Dunham.
Sapulpa Finance Director Joe Dunham says the extra money from the hikes, more than $1 million a year, will go toward several projects.
They plan to buy generators for the water and wastewater treatment plants. They don’t have those right now.
“If power goes out to the city as a whole our water and sewer plants go down,” said Dunham. “If that happens that triggers a whole lot of other things that would be detrimental for the citizens.”
He says they’ve gotten notices of violation for not having generators from the DEQ.
They’re also planning for upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant.
“There’s some issues with some of our aerators and some of our diffusers and things like that that will allow us to handle the waste that comes into the facility in an appropriate manner,” said Dunham.
He says they’re also planning sewer work across the city, like near 49th and Hilton, to support growth in the area.
“Not only are we taking care of problems that we have today,” said Dunham.
“We’re planning for the future for our citizens.”
The water bill in Sapulpa includes water, sewer, stormwater, trash, and fees. Only water and sewer are going up starting March 1.
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