<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1eRsL9_1H1roi5800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1eRsL9_1H1roi5800" width="2048" height="1553" ><figcaption>A sign in Sourdough Canyon welcomes visitors to the municipal watershed. PHOTO BY JON MALETZ</figcaption></figure>Water experts and city officials on Tuesday evening agreed: Bozeman has long undervalued its most precious resource.The Bozeman City Commission unanimously voted to hike the cash-in-lieu of water rights (CILWR) fee from the current rate of $6,000 per acre foot to the recommended fair market value of $13,050. Put simply, for a typical single-family home the fee will rise from about $1,400 to about $3,000 annually.The shift, which only pertains to new development, will take effect March 1.“The bottom line is that (water in) Bozeman today is very, very cheap, and even with this rate increase will be highly competitive with peer communities,” remarked Adam Jokerst, Rocky Mountain regional director of WestWater Research. “The fee hasn’t increased in 18 years. It makes sense that it would go up.”CILWR is a mechanism by which real estate developers are permitted to pay an upfront fee to a municipality to use water on their land instead of legally obtaining or transferring physical rights to their projects. That process is complex, routinely taking five to eight years, according to the city, in addition to requiring that essential infrastructure such as water treatment systems, pipes and storage tanks be constructed. According to the city, 98 to 99% of all development since the 1980s has paid CILWR to the city. Bozeman in turn uses those fees to secure future water shares and bolster its coffers.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=11ldMz_1H1roi5800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=11ldMz_1H1roi5800" width="598" height="374" ></figure>Bozeman Creek (40 percent), Hyalite Reservoir (40 percent) and Lyman Creek (20 percent) supply the city’s water. Additional, non-potable sources help irrigate parks and open spaces.In 2024, the city provided 7,100 acre-feet of water to residences and businesses. The current fee of $6,000 per acre-foot — the standard consumption rate for one household is .234 acre-feet per household, Jokerst said — had remained unchanged since 2008.Increased post-pandemic demand and market shifts necessitated a fresh look at the numbers, according to Shawn Kohtz, Bozeman’s utilities director.“The growth that we’ve seen of course coming out of the pandemic, that’s really driven demand for water, and that drives the increase in cost,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve acquired enough water over the years to be able to absorb that big growth spurt. But we’re currently working on basically developing that next municipal water supply because it takes so long to permit and build it.”While they expect some developers to balk — Commissioner Emma Bode mentioned that, during an open comment section, an unidentified person estimated his costs for a large project would increase more than $1.5 million — Jokerst was quick to point out the new rate would account for just 0.4% of median home price. The average for peer municipalities, meanwhile, encompassing places where water prices are surprisingly low (Scottsdale, Arizona) and high (Longmont, Greeley and Fort Collins, Colorado), is 1.6%.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2IEeXE_1H1roi5800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2IEeXE_1H1roi5800" width="2000" height="1333" ><figcaption>Water flows over rocks in Sourdough (Bozeman) Creek on a recent afternoon. PHOTO BY JON MALETZ</figcaption></figure>“As someone whose husband is a builder, to give you a little bit of context about what this fee kind of relates to when you’re building a single-family home or a condo or apartment … that’s about what you might expect to pay for fasteners, nails, screws, bolts, staples,” Commissioner Alison Sweeney said. “This is actually a really incredibly small cost to a project.”But one the commission felt was worth taking time to implement. While they agreed on the new fee, commissioners questioned the recommendation from Jokerst and Kohtz that it take effect Nov. 23. They cautioned that such an expedited timeline could “shock” the system. All five members favored a March 1 compromise.“(The amended implementation date) would give developers who may not have been following this conversation the ability to come in and pay at their current (rate),” City Manager Chuck Winn said. “I think we have underpriced water in our community. With all the conversations we’ve had about growth and development, our precious natural resources, that’s why we did this. … This is really something that we need to catch up on.”</div></body>

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Water experts and city officials on Tuesday evening agreed: Bozeman has long undervalued its most precious resource. The Bozeman City Commission unanimously voted to hike the cash-in-lieu of water rights (CILWR) fee from the current rate of $6,000 per acre foot to the recommended fair market value of $13,050. Put simply, for a typical single-family home the fee will rise from about $1,400 to about $3,000 annually.

City unanimously OKs water fee hike

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Water experts and city officials on Tuesday evening agreed: Bozeman has long undervalued its most precious resource. The Bozeman City Commission unanimousl

City unanimously OKs water fee hike

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