Moab Irrigation District in Newman Lake walks back 45% rate hike

Residents and irrigators in Newman Lake will pay a $309 assessment fee on top of their regular water rates this year in lieu of a 45% rate increase.

The Moab Irrigation District board met with about 60 customers at the Tri Community Grange Thursday night to discuss possible changes to the 2025 budget that included the 45% increase plus a $200 assessment fee after public outcry.

In previous budget discussions, the board floated 131% and 76% hikes because of increased costs and a need to build up a long-neglected reserve fund.

Some farmers said they could not afford the increase.

At the start of the meeting, board chair Holt Ayles proposed reducing the domestic water allotment from 1,300 cubic feet to 1,000, reducing the rate increase to 25% and removing the assessment fee. Water users who use more than the allotment pay an extra fee. There are about 7,500 gallons in 1,000 cubit feet.

Ayles said he and other board members met with community members and consulted with other water districts to reconsider their numbers.

“I think we can come up with a little better solution than what we initially proposed,” Ayles said.

For much of the meeting, Ayles fielded questions and suggestions from the audience.

Some residents pushed back on the allotment reduction because they need extra water to mitigate wildfire risk.

Tamryn Carver, who owns the Christmas tree farm Carver Farms, asked for a flat fee.

“When you go with a percentage, that kills us irrigators,” she said.

Board member Robert Snow said a flat charge is not fair, especially long term.

“A blanket rate increase does not consider allocating appropriate costs whether it is irrigation or domestic,” he said.

Moab district manager Scott Inch said the district needs a comprehensive rate study to get an accurate assessment for the rate structure.

“Are the domestic homeowners supporting irrigation people, are irrigation people supporting homeowners? We don’t even know what the mix is with this and that amount of money,” Inch said.

Board members also said they want to hire a certified public accountant to review the district’s finances.

“None of us are CPAs,” Ayles said. “There’s a bunch of different ways to look at numbers. We are doing our best to come up with a solution that is best for everybody.”

Resident Douglas Hughes did some back-of-the-envelope math and suggested the board accept the flat fee to meet the deadline and table the other issues for future meetings.

After further discussion, the board agreed to charge the district’s 703 parcels $308.76 each to reach a new budget of $1,077,745.

“Coming up with flat fee per parcel seemed like, math-wise, it accomplished what we needed to and didn’t hit any one person overly hard,” Ayles said after the meeting.