Kimball residents will be seeing a four to six percent increase in their utility bills come October 1.

Residential and commercial electric bills will see a six percent increase while water will increase five-and-a-half percent. City sewer will increase four percent.

Reasons for the water and sewer increases include the need to pay for the debt services on various city projects, Kimball City Administrator Harold Farrar explained to the Board of Public Works September 13. Farrar cited in an August 19 letter to Mayor James Schnell and the city council that electric and water usages and sales are down in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Starting October 1, city water customers will be charged a minimum $16.75 per month and $1.10 per 1,000 gallons of water used. Out of city water users will be charged a minimum $18.75 per month and $1.65 per 1,000 gallons of water used. The sewer bill will have a minimum charge $12 per month with an additional charge of $1.10 per 1,000 gallons used.

The draft electric budget presented to the city council within the last month listed the adopted industrial, commercial municipal, and residential electric sales for the months of October 1, 2010 through September, 2011 and compared it to what was actually sold between October 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011.

Between October 2010 and June 2011, municipal and residential electric sales were down by approximately $17,800. Industrial sales were down by $36,000. Commercial sales were down by $214,800.

For the 12-month period between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011, total electric sales for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential usage were estimated to just under $2.1 million dollars. The proposed estimated combined electric sales for commercial, industrial, municipal and residential usage between Oct. 1 and September 30, 2012 is approximately $2.2 million dollars.

Capital items proposed in the combined city utility budget for the upcoming fiscal year include $30,000 for dumpsters, $40,000 for a Track Loader, a $25,000 Mad Vac Trailer mounted for a three-quarter ton pickup for a dump bed from the Water Department, a used half-ton pickup truck for $12,000, and a possible $100,000 loader.