During Tuesday evening's meeting, Fort Wayne City Council members will discuss a planned water utility rate increase.
Earlier this month, city officials announced a plan to raise rates to shore up a water distribution system prone to main breaks in recent months. With an average of 300 main breaks a year, city utilities officials said there were more than 150 water main breaks in the first five months of 2018.
The additional money raised would go to replace the aging pipes in the city's 1,400-mile water system, according to Fort Wayne city officials.
The water rate adjustments will be phased in over a five-year period, with the first step becoming effective in 2019, according to city officials.
The roughly 5.8 percent annual increases for a typical customer using 4,000 gallons of water a month would look like this:
- $1.34 a month increase in 2019
- $1.43 a month increase in 2020
- $1.53 a month increase in 2021
- $1.54 a month increase in 2022
- $1.67 a month increase in 2013
The proposal would eventually have to be approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
