The Basics of a Water & Sewer Rate Study

The publication of the Information contained in this document is an attempt, on the part of MTAS, to provide meaningful and understandable guidelines for the development of reasonable and adequate water and sewer rates. One of the most difficult decision processes that elected and appointed officials must deal with is rate-making. No action of an elected body receives more attention and scrutiny than the utility rate process except, of course, the property tax rate process. Likewise, where appointed utility boards are mandated to set rates, the same pressures come to bear at rate increase time. We believe this publication contains some straight-forward approaches to the establishment of fair and effective water and sewer rate structures. A review of this publication would be most helpful to any municipal official who anticipates being involved in a utility rate decision process. The manual is intended primarily for administrative staff. However, elected and appointed board members probably would gain much from a review of the document.

The MTAS publications provided on this website are archival documents intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as authoritative. The content contained in these publications may be outdated, and the laws referenced therein may have changed or may not be applicable to your city or circumstances. For current information, please visit the MTAS website at: http://mtas.tennessee.edu