Sewer, water hookups will cost more in Havre

It will be more expensive to hook onto the city of Havre’s water and sewer systems under legislation approved by a City Council committee Monday night.

If the full council approves, it will cost $100 for a permit and new users will be charged an $800 impact fee for a three-quarter- or five-eighths-inch water pipe. The average residential home has a one-inch pipe, which will cost $1,500 under the new plan.

The same costs would be in effect for the city’s sewage system.

At the other end of the spectrum it will cost $12,000 to get a 6-inch pipe, the kind used by larger businesses. Public Works Director Dave Peterson said the city hasn’t installed a six-inch pipe in years.

In the past, the permit was $75, and people were charged $100 for each quarter inch over one inch.

The increases are rather steep, Peterson told the Water and Sewer Committee, but the present rates were set in 1996, and it’s time for an increase.

Most other cities in Montana charge at least as much, he said.

In Billings, he said, the cost of installing at six-inch pipe is more than $100,000. Billings and other cities are imposing high impact fees to slow growth, he said.

Havre is looking for new construction and doesn’t want to stifle development, Peterson said. But the higher charges just reflect the higher costs the city has had to endure.

The city is spending $12 million on a new sewage treatment plant, and it spent more than $1 million on repairs to the water system.

Earlier in the evening, Peterson told the Ordinance Committee that he and Jeff Jensen, the deputy Public Works director, will be reviewing city zoning ordinances to see if they should be updated.

He said he has heard people suggested that the sign ordinances be strengthened.

If they decide changes are needed, the proposals will be set by the council’s Ordinance Committee and then the full council.