AURORA – The City Council is slated to vote next month on a proposed water rate increase that would raise the average customer’s bill $7.55 a month.
The council at its study session Monday said it will vote on the plan Oct. 23.
The proposal includes a conservation credit for customers who use less than 3,000 gallons of water in any month.
The new, tiered-rate structure plan will set charges in blocks.
Households with average or below-average consumption would pay less per 1,000 gallons of water.
If approved, the rate increase would take effect Jan. 1. The 12 percent revenue increase in 2007 and 2008 is expected to generate $8.5 million to help pay for the Prairie Waters Project and other capital improvement projects.
AURORA – VA hospital funding advances in Congress
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday authorized $98 million toward construction and planning of a new Veterans Affairs hospital on the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora.
In the bill, passed by unanimous consent, the Senate gave the VA authority to begin the process of acquiring land for the hospital.
The bill is the latest development in the effort to replace the outdated VA hospital at East Ninth Avenue and Clermont Street in central Denver.
In May, a House of Representatives committee stripped $52 million that would have gone toward site purchase and planning. The committee criticized the hospital’s cost, which has nearly doubled in two years, to an estimated $621 million.
Since then, the House has passed legislation setting aside $98 million for the new hospital. The bills must now go to a House-Senate conference committee that will produce a final version.
