LAWTON – The 15% increase in utility rates and all city services goes into effect July 1. Any bill mailed by the City of Lawton after July 1 will reflect that increase, Finance Director Joe Don Dunham said.
Besides utility bills, the rate hike also will apply to “everything from fingerprinting and swimming pool fees to business licenses, building permits and inspections,” Dunham said. “It will include any service the City of Lawton charges a fee to provide.”
The rate increase just on utility bills (water, sewer, trash collection/disposal) is expected to generate $4.5 million more than fiscal year 2022 projected revenues, and $7.96 million more than what City Hall actually received in FY 2021, Dunham said.
As for how the City Council settled on a 15% rate increase, “Four main factors went into the decision,” Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris said.
Ÿ Inflation is expected to keep rising.
Ÿ Previous City Councils “have failed to fund an emergency budget, and we are way behind where recommendations say we should be.”
Ÿ “We anticipate having more medical liabilities from the old self-insurance system that by law have to be addressed.”
Ÿ Past councils “have not addressed these liabilities, and we have to address them now or they will get worse.”
In addition, sales tax collections are up slightly from last year but not to pre-COVID levels yet, Harris noted.