Oct. 31--BIXBY -- Bixby water customers will see a 9.46 percent increase in their monthly bills starting in December.

Most of the increase will fund a $3.7 million waterline extension under way across the Arkansas River from 121st to 151st streets at Mingo Road, as well as additional water and sewer upgrades.

The increase also coincides with a 3 percent increase in the wholesale rate that the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority charges Bixby for water.

City Manager Blu Hulsey said the increase to customers is necessary to provide quality water and address the ongoing need to update the water system.

Hulsey presented the City Council with three options this week, ranging from a 3.72 percent increase to an 18.12 percent increase, but councilors wanted more time to research the issue. The 9.46 percent increase was approved at a special meeting Friday.

"We gave the council several options," he said. "They wanted to plan for several long-term projects."

Hulsey said councilors also adopted a measure that would allow Tulsa's incremental water increases to be reflected on Bixby customers' bills automatically without council approval.

He said Bixby's water rates are comparable with those of other suburbs.

"In fact, looking at the overall bill, I think we're still on the low end when you consider sewer rates," he said.

Bixby opted to charge more for heavy use than Owasso and Jenks do. But Bixby charges less for the base rate of the first 1,000 gallons.

Owasso and Jenks, along with Glenpool, Sperry and part of Skiatook, also rely exclusively on Tulsa for water.

Bixby decided to shut down the Lake Bixhoma water-treatment plant, which served Bixby residents south of the river, under a consent order in 2006. Rather than make costly improvements, it decided to buy water exclusively from Tulsa.

City Engineer Jared Cottle said the new waterline loop bored under the Arkansas River will provide a guaranteed water connection to Tulsa water and will help serve residential developments south of the river adequately.

Two existing waterlines across the river serve south Bixby residents.

A city of Tulsa line provides water to the Kimberly-Clark facility, but Bixby officials don't consider it a guaranteed connection. Cottle said Bixby taps onto the line but that the company's use is primary and Bixby's is secondary.

The other existing connection is an eight-inch line suspended from the old Arkansas River bridge on Memorial Drive.

The smaller, eight-inch line doesn't serve all the city's needs, Cottle said.

"We need to be able to carry future demands north or south," he said.

Bixby last had a water-rate increase in 2006, when Tulsa increased its rates by 10.1 percent.

Ken Hill, assistant public works director for the city of Tulsa, said the utility authority determines wholesale rates on a year-by-year basis, he said.

Susan Hylton 581-8381 susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com

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