Willow Park City Council approved, during its Tuesday, Sept. 22, meeting, an ordinance updating several water utility rates and fees for Fiscal Year 2026-27.
The decision continues the multi-year rate plan designed to maintain the financial stability of the city’s water fund and make the wastewater fund financially independent.
Water base rates and wastewater rates remain unchanged. However, volumetric rates will see some changes. A volumetric water rate is a variable fee charged by a utility provider based on the actual amount of water consumed.
For a standard residential customer, the anticipated volumetric rates are:
The proposed deposit changes increase residential and senior deposits from $100 to $150; with residential outside the city, residential rental, and commercial deposits going from $200 to $250. The construction water meter deposit increases from $2,300 to $2,700, with the updated meter costs reflecting current equipment pricing.
“This is good because it keeps the taxes from going up,” Assistant City Manager Michelle Guelker said. “No tax money supports water and wastewater at all.”
In August 2023, NewGen Strategies and Solutions presented a multi-year utility rate plan. The first year of the plan was implemented in Fiscal Year 2023-24 and included increases to residential and commercial wastewater rates, with the establishment of a multi-family wastewater rate.
The establishment of the multi-family rate allowed the wastewater fund to become financially independent within two years rather than the originally projected three years.
Mayor Teresa Palmer offered assurance to residents the plan is good for the city.
“Chase (McBride, Public Works director) and Michelle (Guelker) are really good at understanding our water situation,” Palmer said.
The new billing will begin in October, pending legal review, McBride said.
Council approved adopting a concurrent resolution and joining the Parker County Public Utility Agency (PUA) to promote regional coordination among water providers, develop additional drinking water supplies, and provide potable drinking water throughout Parker County.
The goal of the PUA is to help provide solutions to short-term and long-term needs. Benefits include:
“This is for long-term planning. This is not a solution for tomorrow,” Guelker said. “This is a solution for 20 to 50 years down the road.”
Council member Eric Contreras added, “We’re diversifying our water portfolio.”
In doing so, the council also authorized the city’s initial annual cost share of $20,000 for cities with populations of 5,000 to 10,000. If the agency is not created on or before May 31, 2027, the initial payment is to be returned to the city in full.
Council also appointed Guelker as Willow Park’s director and Chase McBride as alternate to the PUA Board of Directors.
Several town hall meetings to get public input concerning the comprehensive plan have been scheduled. They are set for:
The city has a 30,000-gallon ground storage water tank at the El Chico Pump Station. The tank has begun to leak and attempts to repair the tank have been unsuccessful.
Council authorized the engineering firm of Jacob & Martin to begin soliciting bids to replace the existing tank with a new 40,000-gallon ground storage tank.
At the Sept. 11 meeting council approved annexation of two parcels of land totaling just over an acre identified as Willow Bend Court. The land was originally dedicated to the city as a road and had to be annexed into the city to become a public road as part of the new Tractor Supply development in that area.
That land has now been rezoned to business “C” commercial district.
Council also approved the final plat of just over 8.4 acres for Tractor Supply.
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