A higher surcharge tied to water from the Central Arizona Project and a water rate increase for industrial and commercial customers was approved Tuesday by the Tucson City Council.
The higher surcharge, which funds the cost of water purchased from the Central Arizona Project, will increase from $1 to $1.25 per hundred cubic feet of water on Feb. 3.
Tucson Water customers face a higher surcharge tied to water from the Central Arizona Project. Under a plan approved Tuesday by the city council, beginning in February, residential customers will see an increase from $1 to $1.25 per hundred cubic feet of water. That's about $2 more per month for the average user.
The average Tucson Water customer is likely to see an increase to their bill of about $2 per month from the higher surcharge, Tucson Water Director John Kmiec told the Star in September, when the city council first announced its intent to raise rates.
The rate increases are an attempt by the city to be consistent with CAP, which adopted its own rate increases and will begin charging the city more for water, according to a memo from City Manager Tim Thomure.
An additional 25-cent increase to the supply fee will likely be necessary in fiscal year 2027-2028, Thomure said in a September memo, because if the city were to leave the surcharge at $1 and not impose either 25-cent increase, it would stand to run a net deficit of roughly $76 million by the end of the 2029-2030 fiscal year, the memo said.
Separately, the council approved raising the commercial base rate for water from $3.43 per hundred cubic feet to $3.59. The industrial base rate will rise from $3.50 to $3.66 per hundred cubic feet.
Mayor Regina Romero was absent from the meeting.
These rates will also see increases in the following two fiscal years.
The commercial rate will climb to $3.75 in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, then to $3.91 in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The industrial base rate in February will rise to $3.83 in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, then to $3.99 in the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
The cityâs fiscal year runs from July 1 to the end of June.
Commercial and industrial customers will also see their two âSummer Surchargeâ rates increase. Those apply when a userâs consumption in the months of March through November are higher than the âcustomerâs winter average consumption,â Thomure said in a memo.
