City leaders blame state for water rate hike - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Sioux City leaders say they're stuck with a water rate increase.  The council's given first round approval to a seven-percent increase each of the next three years.

The average water bill will go from $25.69 to $31.47.

The city says the increase is necessary to pay for projects mandated by the state.  The priciest is the new Southbridge water treatment plant.  The state required the second treatment plant as a back up.

Mayor Bob Scott says there's no way around raising water rates this year, but he hopes to revisit the issue before raising them again next year.

"Hopefully, we can sign on a couple of big water users and as a result we won't have to have these rate increases go into affect over the next three years," said Scott.

The city recently increased the rates of users in neighboring towns, and they'll look at doing so again next year as part of the cost-sharing contract.