Burnet greenlights annual utility rate increases
Burnet City Hall. Staff photo by Caden Senn.
The city of Burnet recently approved a 3-percent annual rate increase to its water, sewer, and electric utilities, citing increasing market competition, infrastructure upgrades, and routine maintenance as reasons for the hikes.
The rate changes, approved during the Tuesday, Sept. 8, City Council meeting, will take effect Oct. 1. Each utility will increase by an additional 3 percent every October through 2031.
In addition, the monthly minimum charge for each utility will increase by $3 annually.
City staff said the increases would amount to a few extra dollars per month for residents and generate an estimated $523,632 in additional annual revenue.
Average monthly bill increase per customer
- Residential water – $4.18
- Commercial water – $5.84
- Residential sewer – $3.69
- Commercial sewer – $7.07
- Residential electric – $4.23
- Small commercial electric – $5.34
- Large commercial electric – $55.42
Additional yearly revenue generated
- Water – $165,530
- Sewer – $138,023
- Electric – $220,079
Assistant City Manager Keith McBurnett presented three separate items at the council meeting regarding the increases and shared the city’s reasoning behind the changes.
“It seems like every time we have a discussion about an infrastructure-related issue it’s in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “We want to make sure that we have revenues that are sufficient to support market-competitive salaries… that we’re able to run daily operations… and maintain, repair, and replace aging infrastructure.”
The city previously approved a 20-percent hike to water and sewer rates in June 2025 after not raising rates for nearly a decade and a half. At the time, City Manager David Vaughn told DailyTrib the city “probably should have done smaller increases along the way.”