Colby City Manager Ron Alexander on Water Rate Changes and More

Today, NWKS Radio spoke with Colby City Manager Ron Alexander about the city's upcoming water ordinance that's taking effect February 2, 2026.

The gist of the change is Colby has switched their water billing to a tiered system, meaning people will be billed different dollar amounts based on their meter levels. There's a fixed rate for water meter size but the change comes with usage, as shown on the picture next to this text block.

According to Alexander, the rate change's main purpose is protecting infrastructure now and in the future.

"The main purpose is protecting infrastructure for not only our needs now but future infrastructure as well," Alexander said. "As we look at our funding going forward, you see that cash balance or water fund, just the water, not including sewer, not including electric, strictly the water fund is about a $2 million budget a year. And year to year, the last couple of years, we've seen that cash balance deteriorating."

Once February 2 hits, that will be the first time the city has changed their rate structure in over 16 years, although it did make a slight increase in the meter charge.

Another point of the water rates for the city is conservation, Alexander said.

"We're trying to promote conservation as well. I put $5,000 to $10,000 in the budget every year," Alexander said.

Alexander also mentioned the importance of the farming industry in how it complements municipalities in the area.

"People need to understand too, when you look at what's coming out of the aquifer, what's coming out of the ground, municipalities are only responsible for about 4% of that," Alexander said. "So we can take all the measures we want to cities, but if they're not complementing those results on the farming industry, which they are through lemurs, through groundwater management districts, they are all working on that. But we feel like we need to do our part as well."

When looking at pricing compared to other communities around Colby, the town still holds lower costs on water even with the new rising rates.

With the new water ordinance, the city is still trying to stay aware of those in lower-income households.

"What we're trying to do is be cognizant of those single-family homes, low-income homes and retired communities," Alexander said. "Maybe they live in senior housing and they need to keep those utility bills low."

For those using 15,000 gallons of water or less, their bills only move up roughly $3 a month from the old rate.

"Maybe if you want to conserve, make sure that you've got a metered system," Alexander said. "Make sure that you have those set to specific times and durations to keep those down."

The city of Colby has taken some pointers from how cities like Hays and Garden City have done their operations.

"We've looked at the models for Hays, Garden City, Dodge City, of what they're doing for water conservation," Alexander said.