nspencer@delphosherald.com

DELPHOS — Delphos City Council will see two separate pieces of legislation from the Utilities Committee on Monday. One ordinance gives an increase of 2 percent for 2 years in water rates. The second ordinance asks for a 5 percent increase in sewer rates for one year. The committee voted unanimously to leave the Consumer Price Index ordinance currently in place alone. The current CPI is 1.7 percent.

Committee Chair Rick Hanser opened the meeting by saying water and sewer rates need to be raised so the accounts don’t go into the red or fall below what is needed for operations.

“No one wants to do this but we can’t operate in the hole,” Hanser said.

City Auditor Tom Jettinghoff presented several proposals for rate increases for both the water and sewer accounts for committee members to look over. Councilman Kevin Osting questioned some of the increases and the resulting balances.

“I know we can’t go in the red but we don’t need to have that much of a balance in these accounts, either,” Osting said. “Everyone is struggling and I can’t see us having that big of a balance when it’s hard for people to pay their bills.”