If you are a Paola Water customer, your rates are going up soon. The average Paola Water customer will be paying about $9.00 more per month under the new rate structure approved by Paola City Council members recently. Paola purchases treated water from the Marais Des Cygnes Public Utility Authority and distributes water to customers through a 45-mile network of pipes.
City Manager, Randi Shannon, says the water utility is an enterprise operation for the city, designed to operate like a business with revenues covering expenses, and unfortunately the current rate structure doesn’t support itself. Shannon says the current water rate structure does not fully fund the operations and maintenance of the water utility, and it also doesn’t allow for money to be saved for future capital improvement projects or to build up a reserve. Salaries for water department employees have also been allocated to other funds to help alleviate the impact to the water fund.
