Expect an Increase to your City of Lawton Utility Bill Soon!
From what it's sounding like we can expect an increase in our City of Lawton utility bill sometime soon.
Earlier this week city administrators and department heads gathered to discuss the city's current financial state and the rising costs of materials, supplies, and inflation. So it's looking like we'll be paying more for water, sewer, and refuge. The BIG QUESTION everyone wants to be answered is when and how much more?
From what's being said it could be as much as an additional 15% which depending on your water usage and other factors could be an extra $10.00 to $15.00 per month. That really adds up, especially if you're living on a fixed income, and a lot of people are. Now, nothing has been decided quite yet, but it isn't looking good.
There are talks about increasing other fees and charges as well. That would include things like construction permits, inspections, city park rentals, and more. Doing this would help offset the increases in the utility bill, or at least that's the thought anyway. Basically an attempt to spread it out so it doesn't all fall on utility bills.
At this time there doesn't appear to be an end in sight when it comes to the rising inflation. Just about everything has been affected and we're all paying more due to the sharp increase in inflation, it's Nationwide. Here's the bad news. Economists think it's going to get worse before it gets any better. That's just great!
The Lawton City Council will be meeting on this soon and discussing rate increases to our utility payments and other fees and charges as well. Hopefully, they can work something out and spread the increase across several different areas so we're not getting the full brunt of the cost increase on our water bill alone.
We've already seen an increase in our utility payments despite the reduction of services over the past few years. With 1.5% here and a few dollars more there it just keeps going up. However, this most recent increase would be one of the highest yet if it does go up an additional 15% or even 10%. That's a significant increase and would definitely hurt lower-income families and people living on fixed incomes. It's a really bad situation.
We'll keep you posted and as soon as the city council makes a decision about the increase we'll be sure to pass it along. This past year has been brutal, inflation is eating more and more of our paychecks as the cost of everything continues to go up. The old paycheck isn't going as far as it used to that's for sure!