Proposed Water Rate Increase Public Comment from Devonna MorganDevonna Morgan
117 Wedgewood Lane
Kalispell, MT 59901
June 28, 2023
To: Kalispell City Council
201 First Ave East
Kalispell, MT 59901
Subject: Notice of Proposed Water Rate Increase
Here's my feelings about your proposed water rate increases. Inflation isn't a neighborhood,
city, county, state or national issue; it's a global problem. That means it affects everyone on
this planet. Everyone has to deal with it within their own means. That means making
priorities and decisions and sacrifices to balance our budgets. Here's how inflation affects my
personal budget (using the same format as your proposal), and it doesn't show all the other
inflated costs I have to build into my retirement budget (groceries, insurance, medical,
automobile) (I have hidden my personal costs comparing 2019 with 2022 because this is a
public document).
increased
Type
Project Name
costs
Increase
Homeowner
Electricity
81
10
Homeowner
Natural Gas
60
14
Homeowner
Telecom
958
54
Homeowner
Wter/Sewer
208
47
Homeowner
Property Taxes
392
12
Insurance
Auto
120
14
Insurance
Home
517
70
2,336
And as a senior with a fixed income, I have to make sacrifices to honor my commitments to
others, while maintaining an independent lifestyle and there aren't too many categories to
make those cuts. But I do make choices because it is necessary and required .... no one else is
going to cover my inflationary costs.
I already live a frugal lifestyle to stay within that means. I don't think you need to promote
what good work you do, but I do believe that future expansion exponentially increases the unit
cost. As I have written in the past, I feel new development needs to pay the cost for joining our
community by paying a higher impact fee for city and county services. Developers are going to
build here no matter what, and increased fees are not going to prevent them once they have
their permits.
The citizen on the bottom of the totem pole bears the biggest hurt. Maybe developers could be
incentivized to provide low-income housing with a lower impact fee.
My bottom line is I have to absorb inflation within my fixed budget; you should too.
Your chart that explains what the rate increase pays for is not monetized by category. So
"storage facilities" (which I assume are currently adequate) and "new source development
(wells and tanks)" appear to be customer growth related items and my expectation is that
increased impact fees should cover future growth and should not be borne by current
customers.
And lastly, I believe that "projects" need to be prioritized and only implemented when funded.
If your estimates in 2019 are grossly under -estimated in an anticipated implementation year,
then they should be postponed to a later fiscal year or re -prioritized to fit the funding.
Devonna Morgan
billmor@cyberport.net