Rate Increase Effective 10/01/2022

Dear Members,

As a member of the Kempner Water Supply Company, we want you to understand what your water payments are used for.

Water is a precious commodity, especially in Central Texas, and as you know providing almost 6,000 customers high quality water over our coverage area is not an easy or inexpensive process.  Kempner provides water to over 310 square miles across central Texas.  We also provide water to Salado and Lampasas City.   Daily, we purchase or deliver approximately 7 million gallons of water to our customers.

Your elected Board and Kempner management and employees take expense control very seriously on a daily basis.

We have not raised our rates since October 2019.  We have been able to absorb most of the increases in expenses thus far, but your Board has decided that we can no longer maintain the 2019 rate structure.

Effective October 2022 the base rate for most residential customers will increase $5 per month to $75 and the water usage rate will increase from $4.50 per thousand gallons to $5.25.

These increases are required to ensure we operate effectively and efficiently and that we are able to maintain and improve on the nearly 400 miles of pipe, 6 pump stations, 6 storage tanksand our Stillhouse Reservoir Water Treatment plant that processes 3.5 million gallons of water a day.

So where does your money go?

The base rate of your bill: This pays for our debt payments of $2.6M (45%), The salaries of the 21 employees $1.5M (26%) ,Administrative and engineering expenses $.6M (10%) Utilities $.5M (9%) and miscellaneous expenses like Insurance etc. for $.6M (10%).

The water usage rate ( $5.25 per 1000 gal.) of your bill recovers the maintaining and upgrading of the massive infrastructure $1.3M (32%), Purchasing water and water rights $1.6M (39%) and expenses related to operating the infrastructure including the field and water plant $1.2M (29%)

This increase is in line with the US inflationary trends of the water sector.  As Directors, we are also members, so we do not make these decisions lightly.   Kempner Water Supply is a non-profit entity and governed by Texas regulations put in place to protect its members.  Your Board of Directors are all unpaid volunteers who just want to make sure that when you turn on your faucet a high-quality product flows into your glass.

Sincerely,

KWSC Board of Directors