The Red Oak City Council spent most of a 45-minute meeting Monday night listening to numbers it did not vote on. Mayor Tim Fridolph told KCSI Tuesday morning the wastewater plant project is no longer a choice.
The plant is a roughly $20 million rebuild, lined up with a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan. Chip Schultz of PFM Financial Advisors brought three preliminary sewer-rate scenarios. No scenario was adopted. Fridolph said Scenario A was the one Schultz used for examples, not the one the council has picked.
All three start Jan. 1, 2027, and lean on the basic service charge so the city has a steadier check coming in when debt payments start. Scenario A is a 40 percent increase on Jan. 1, 2027, 35 percent on July 1, 2027, and 10 percent on July 1, 2028. Scenario B is 35, 35, and 15. Scenario C is 40, then 5, then 40. Usage charges rise more slowly.
Schultz also proposed two structural changes Red Oak has not used. Commercial and industrial customers would pay a basic charge 50 percent higher than a house, because they have larger pipes and meters. Customers outside the city limits would pay double the in-city rate. Fridolph said that is how other towns do it, and that charging a business the same basic rate as a house has never been fair to the residential customer. “These are suggestions,” he said. “Nothing has been voted on.”
On a household bill, Fridolph read from the Scenario A sheet on the air. He put a typical bill at $39.44 now, about $38 on Jan. 1, 2027, and $47 by July 1, 2027. Schultz had used a 3,000-gallon example Monday night and put the current bill near $30.94, moving to about $47 by July 2027. The two men were not reading the same line. Fridolph said the tables are examples, and the clearest next step is to watch the meeting video on the city website.
He called current rates low and said the point of the increase is to get Red Oak in line with peer towns. Council asked Schultz to come back with Glenwood, Shenandoah, Clarinda, and Atlantic. That comparison is the main charge he left with.
The USDA will not release the loan until the plant is built and inspected, so the city needs interim money. Fridolph said he hopes those talks start with local banks. Construction bids are expected in 2027. Snyder is drawing the plans.
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