New Hope City Council Approves 2025 Utility Rates, Organized Organics Recycling Collection On its Way

Posted on 12/19/2024

The City of New Hope has finalized changes to utility rates for 2025. At its meeting on Dec. 9, the New Hope City Council approved these rates as part of the 2025 budget.

Water and street light rates will increase by 5%, with sanitary sewer rates and storm drainage rates increasing by 4%. The operation, maintenance, and capital improvements of the City’s sanitary sewer, water and storm sewer utility systems are funded by separate enterprise funds within New Hope’s budget. Revenue for each fund is generated from the fees charged to the City’s utility customers.

Additionally, the fee for curbside recycling will increase by 5%, or 30 cents per month. This increase also helps cover the rising costs of the biannual curbside bulky waste cleanup event, with the next cleanup scheduled for 2026. The Hennepin Recycling Group will also launch organized organics recycling collection effective April 1, 2025, at a rate of $2.90 per month. Residents will need to register with the program to have an organics cart delivered and be added to the collection route. Garbage haulers will discontinue organics recycling service and remove the charge from monthly billing. The rate will increase to $3.75 once enrollment in the program surpasses 11%. Organized organics recycling will provide uniform service, reduce cost and reduce the number of trucks on city streets. More information about the program will be provided as the April implementation date approaches.

The new utility rates will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. The total impact of the rate increases, without the organics collection fee, on an average residential utility customer using 5,000 gallons of water per month is estimated to be approximately $4.95. Once organized organics recycling is implemented in April, residents will see the service reflected on their City utility bills.