The Green River City Council held its first monthly meeting Tuesday night, with the majority of the discussion focused on a council action item to accept a request for proposal (RFP) for a utility rate study. The city last conducted a rate study in June 2021, prepared by NewGen Strategies & Solutions, which outlined a five-year plan for utility rates. Since then, various factors—including record inflation, new loan amounts and rates, significant changes in usage, and regulatory shifts—have altered assumptions from the original study.

NewGen Strategies has proposed a new study costing $47,500 to update the city’s wastewater rate plan. Finance Director Chris Meats said the city has worked with NewGen for years to maintain and adjust its rate study.

“They’ve given us a wonderful roadmap for the last 10 years,” Meats said. “We like to re-up every five years, and this is year four. We’ve had significant increases in wastewater treatment costs, and one thing we didn’t anticipate was the usage coefficients.”

Meats explained the study would reassess the city’s rate plan for the next five years, noting that significant rate increases could be necessary to maintain current wastewater treatment expenses.

Councilman Mike Williams voiced opposition to the study, questioning the need for another one when the most recent study was completed in 2022.

“I don’t see why we need to spend another $47,000 on a study; I think it’s a waste of money,” Williams said. A back-and-forth between Meats and Williams followed.

“I think that’s a good opinion, and I’m happy to support that if you choose,” Meats responded. “But you have to remember, the data is over a year old. In 2022, we were using 2021 data, and by the time we get the new study, it’ll be a year out of date.”

Williams countered that the city did not fully follow the previous study and questioned spending $47,000 on something they might not implement entirely.

“There’s a lot of scary stuff going on out there with the government,” Williams said. “My personal opinion is that we just need to hold off for a couple of years and go from there.”

Meats explained that there had been significant changes since the last study, including inflation and a drop in usage.

“You commented on the usage –that we didn’t follow the usage. We don’t get a choice on whether or not we follow the usage suggestions from the study; the usage is what the citizens use,” he said, noting that the original plan was based on a $32 million plant, but costs had risen to nearly $50 million due to unforeseen increases. “Without making some changes, we could be looking at a 20-25% rate increase on the sewer plant just to stay solvent,” Meats added. “That’s why we’re bringing this timing in now, so we can run it before this budget cycle.”

Williams emphasized the financial strain on local residents.

“We’ve got people working at Mini-Mart and restaurants, and they’re not making six figures like at the mine. If we keep throwing this bill on them, they’re not going to be able to pay it,” Williams said.

Councilwoman Jessica Maser asked why the city couldn’t conduct the study itself, to which City Administrator Reed Clevinger replied, “It’s always easier to have an outside party detail your rates, and the council is still the final decision. We don’t have the bandwidth to redo an entire study with our current setup.”

The council ultimately passed the motion for the RFP 5-1, with Williams casting the lone dissenting vote.