Mayor, Council To Discuss Water And Sewer Rates In Rockville Monday Night

ROCKVILLE, MD — The rates for water and sewage are on the table for discussion at Monday night's Rockville City Council meeting.

The city said that the rates are going to stay the same at least through the calendar year, but funding from the American Rescue Plan — President Joe Biden's COVID-19 stimulus package — could potentially alleviate some of those costs. The city received $9.6 million from the Plan, and will debate how to best spend it in the coming weeks.

The adopted rate for fiscal year 2022 is $5.61 per 1,000 gallons, the same as it was in FY 2021 and FY 2020, according to city documents. Fiscal year 2022 only means the first six months in this case, with the potential to change the rate in January 2022. These rates were adopted with the city's assumption that most households use approximately 14,000 gallons of water per quarter.

Rockville's water treatment plant serves about 70 percent of the city, the city said. The rest have water and sewage through the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

The mayor and council will also get a COVID-19 update, hear about the status of the Minority, Female, and Disabled-Owned Businesses (MFD) Program, among other items. There is 10 minutes set aside this week for public comment. There is also a public comment session, typically sometime between 7 and 7:30 p.m.

Meeting Details

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Rockville Mayor and City Council meetings are being held virtually. You can watch the meeting on Rockville 11, channel 11 on county cable, livestreamed at www.rockvillemd.gov/rockville11, and the day after the meeting at www.rockvillemd.gov/videoondemand.

Participating In Meetings

The following is information from the City of Rockville on how residents can participate in Mayor and City Council meetings.

If you wish to submit comments in writing for Community Forum or Public Hearings:

• Please email the comments to mayorandcouncil@rockvillemd.gov by no later than 10:00 a.m. on the date of the meeting.
• All comments will be acknowledged by the Mayor and Council at the meeting and added to the agenda for public viewing on the website.

If you wish to participate virtually in Community Forum or Public Hearings during the live Mayor and Council meeting:

1. Send your Name, Phone number, the Community Forum or Public Hearing Topic and Expected Method of Joining the Meeting (computer or phone) to mayorandcouncil@rockvillemd.gov no later than 10:00 am on the day of the meeting.
2. On the day of the meeting, you will receive a confirmation email with further details, and two Webex invitations: 1) Optional Webex Orientation Question and Answer Session and 2) Mayor & Council Meeting Invitation.
3. Plan to join the meeting no later than 6:40 p.m. (approximately 20 minutes before the actual meeting start time).
4. Read for https://www.rockvillemd.gov/Do...
5. meeting tips and instructions on joining a Webex meeting (either by computer or phone).
6. If joining by computer, Conduct a WebEx test: https://www.webex.com/test-mee... prior to signing up to join the meeting to ensure your equipment will work as expected.
7. Participate (by phone or computer) in the optional Webex Orientation Question and Answer Session at 4 p.m. the day of the meeting, for an overview of the Webex tool, or to ask general process questions.

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