Snowflake Town Manager Brian Richards opened discussion regarding possible water and sewer rate increases for the next fiscal year during the town council meeting held on May 1. State law requires a written report must be available to the public for 30 days in advance of the public hearing whenever a water and sewer rate increase is proposed. The council needs to decide if it will go with the town administrator’s recommendation. A public hearing is scheduled for next month prior to the council meeting.
This consideration for a rate increase stems from the attorney’s fees associated with the Little Colorado water adjudication court cases. For the last nine months the average attorney’s fees costs has been approximately $8,000 per month. The town is currently only collecting enough revenue from water users to cover about $6,800 per month. Attorney fees in the future may even double as the trial phases of the court cases begin.
Snowflake’s right to water access is being challenged in a lawsuit that began in 1978. The Hopi Tribe is claiming the rights to roughly 150,000 acre-feet of water in the Little Colorado. The Navajo Nation claims about 500,000 acre-feet of water. The way the law is written means that if the tribes win their water rights it will supersede everyone else’s water rights.
Tribal water claims nearly exceed the total water available in any one year in the entire county. This may lead to water being cut-off to Snowflake and other communities or irrigation districts, or having to pay fees set by the tribes to use the water. “Hopefully if we have a positive solution to the Hopi trial that will carry over to the Navajo trial,” said Mayor Lynn Johnson.
The proposed rate increase recommended by the town manager is $4 to $5 per month for each Snowflake public water system user. “The last time we raised rates we raised it $3,” said Richards. The public hearing on the rate increase will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, at the council room located at 81 W. First St. South taking place prior to the council voting on the item following the hearing.
