Choteau City Council on June 17 approved moving forward with plans to increase rates for water users, saying the increased revenue is needed to fund debt service on water system improvements. The Council will hold a public hearing on the rate increase on July 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council meeting room at the city office.
The city is undertaking the second phase of the current improvement project. This project will install a new 810,000-gallon pre-stressed concrete water storage tank and 12,000 feet of new eight-inch PVC water main. Recently, the city also drilled two new wells as a back-up for the water system. The project is designed to improve water storage capacity and improve water delivery, particularly in the northeast and southwest portions of the city.
In addition to paying down debt service, the rate increase will help the city pay for increasing operational and maintenance costs for the municipal