Can You Afford
a 700% Increase in
Your Monthly Water Bill?

 

In Utah, we pride ourselves on self-reliance, fiscal responsibility and embracing the free-market. But those charged with delivering water to Iron County are choosing a different path.

The Central Iron County Water District (CICWD) is quietly proposing to raise residents water rates 400-700% to fund unnecessary government spending. Yes, you read that correctly.

 

Instead of implementing inexpensive free-market alternatives, CICWD is proposing to indebt their customers through a massive taxpayer-funded spending spree. This government water agency, with just $1.3 million in annual net revenues, is proposing to add $260 million in debt to Iron County residents with the new and unnecessary Pine Valley Project.1 The sprawling development would include 15 groundwater wells, 66 miles of pipeline, 12 miles of powerlines and 9 miles of new roads.

 
Central Iron County Water District is proposing to spend $260 million on a massive new project which would require water rates to increase by 400-700%, according to their own analysis.

Central Iron County Water District is proposing to spend $260 million on a massive new project which would require water rates to increase by 400-700%, according to their own analysis.

Don’t Take Our Word for It

 

In 2020, CICWD commissioned a financial plan for the $260 million project which noted the impacts to customers' water rates.2 This government agency identified the massive water rate increases the Pine Valley Project would require in their own financial plan:

 
 
Home Page Graphic - Water Rate Increases.png
 
 
Wasteful government spending by Central Iron County Water District will increase water rates by 400-700% in the next decade. Iron County families will see their annual water rates increase by thousands of dollars, making the Pine Valley Project completely unaffordable. 3
 
 

CICWD analyzed other scenarios which include less-expensive water sources and only minimal increases in residents water rates. The Financial Business Plan which CICWD paid for noted that these alternatives “would completely offset the projected water shortages,"4 but those alternatives were rejected by the agency. By ignoring these less-expensive alternatives this wasteful government agency is choosing the most expensive water source, thereby forcing gigantic increases to your water rates. Why?

Because this agency refuses to embrace free market economics. CICWD makes more money collecting property taxes on Iron County homes, businesses and automobiles than it does from selling water.

 
Home Page Graphic - Iron County Financial Plan-3.png
The Central Iron County Water District’s Financial Business Plan for the Pine Valley Project looked at sources of water and selected the scenario which requires a 700% increase in water rates, ignoring less-expensive scenarios.6
 

The CICWD gets $3 dollars in these burdensome property taxes for every $1 dollar it gets from selling water via water rates.5 That sounds more like a state-controlled market than a free market.

Our communities cannot afford CICWD’s inept leadership and wasteful spending. How can CICWD be allowed to ignore less expensive alternatives by wasting our money with unnecessary spending?

It’s time for CICWD to be conservative with our water and our pocketbooks. These out-of-touch government officials must be held accountable and ensure our tax dollars are used efficiently.

Citations

  1. Joan Meiners. The Spectrum. The Water Tap: Breaking down the Uncertainty and the Science behind the Pine Valley Water Supply project. (August 24, 2020). https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2020/08/21/water-tap-breaking-down-pine-valley-water-supply-project/5614483002/.
  2. Carollo, Central Iron County Water Conservancy District Pine Valley Water Supply and Conservation Project: Financial Business Plan and Water Needs Assessment, June 2020, Pg. 35-38 https://cicwcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-5-21-PVWSProject-FBP-WtrNeedsAssmt_Final-Report-June-2020.pdf.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid, Page 25.
  5. Central Iron County Water Conservancy District. Audited Financial Statements. (2019). https://cicwcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2019-CICWCD-FINANCIAL-STATEMENT-1.pdf.
  6. Carollo, Central Iron County Water Conservancy District Pine Valley Water Supply and Conservation Project: Financial Business Plan and Water Needs Assessment, June 2020, Pg. 35. https://cicwcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-5-21-PVWSProject-FBP-WtrNeedsAssmt_Final-Report-June-2020.pdf.

Our communities cannot afford CICWD’s inept leadership and wasteful spending. How can CICWD be allowed to ignore less expensive alternatives by wasting our money with unnecessary spending?


It’s time for CICWD to be conservative with our water and our pocketbooks.
These out-of-touch government officials must be held accountable and ensure our tax dollars are used efficiently.

Iron County Water Conservatives was formed to ensure representation from water taxation. We exist to ensure our government water agencies embrace the free market and reduce wasteful government spending to create an affordable water system.