Nampa residents were upset after learning of an increase of about 50% to their yearly water irrigation rates.
The reason for the hike, according to the City of Nampa, was because in 2015, officials concluded that maintenance and operation costs were barely covered by the old rates.
In January, the city council voted to raise the fees which City of Nampa Mayor Bob Henry said was a transparent process.
"There was an extensive public outreach, an extensive public study, we did everything we could to try and let people know what we were going to do. The city council had a couple of options, either do it over a three year period of about 15 to 18 percent a year, or just do it all at once and then be done with it. Council voted to just get it all done at once this year," Mayor Henry said.
The mayor did apologize that the bill sent to Nampa residents didn’t have an explanation on it but said that a rate increase is unlikely in the next several years.
