Water, sewer rates go before Carson City supervisors

The Board of Supervisors Thursday will consider new water and sewer rates.

The proposal is to raise Carson City’s water rates 3 percent and wastewater rates 3.5 percent annually from fiscal year 2021, starting July 1, 2020, through 2025.

In 2013, the city conducted a rate study and instituted a five-year phase in of higher rates that ended in 2017.

Farr West Engineering, the city rate study consultant, considered needed capital improvement projects and fiscal rules set by the city to determine the proposed rate increases.

The city is still working on a new rate structure for stormwater rates that will eventually come before the board for approval.

The board will also vote on new hours for the city’s marijuana retailers as recommended by the Planning Commission.

The businesses current hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the request is to change the hours to 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

At the same time, the board will consider allowing the marijuana dispensaries bigger signage, although that was not recommended by staff or the commission.

The board has a relatively short agenda that also includes lot line adjustments for the Maverik station on Highway 50 east and an agreement for stormwater improvement in the Nevada Department of Transportation maintenance yard.

Before the action items, the supervisors will honor Clarence and Martha Berger, who were married for 65 years until Clarence’s death in 2007. Martha, known as Betty, passed away last year two months short of her 101st birthday and bequeathed $500,000 to Western Nevada College to establish the Clarence and Martha Berger Trust Scholarship Endowment.

The Board of Supervisors meets March 5 at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room, Community Center, 851 E. William St.