By Jill McMillen, Public Information Officer, City of Anderson—
ANDERSON, IN—Mayor Thomas Broderick, Jr., has announced that the “Indiana Regulatory Commission (IURC) has granted, with few modifications, the City of Anderson’s request for authority to finance, through water-rate backed bonding, multiple city water improvements and upgrades, including the building of a new Southside Water Plant that will replace the aged downtown Wheeler Plant, and repairs and replacements that will reduce the number of aged water lines and water leaks.”
The city had proposed a five-phase revenue increase over an approximate 4-year, four-month period that would support the issuance of $130 million dollars of bonds over the same period that would cover costs and the expenses associated with the planned improvements. The city had included, as part of the financing request, the potential for an award of financing from the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) through the State Revolving Loan Fund. That state award was announced by the mayor in August 2025 with a forgivable grant and a low interest financing package to the city totaling $45 million dollars. The IURC decision and order approved the request for the building of the plant, the requested bonding authority, and rate increases beginning now and concluding in January 2029 are in five phases as follows:
Phase 1- 20.5% (Immediate),
Phase II-5.8% (January 2026),
Phase III-25% (January 2027),
Phase IV-19.6% (January 2028), and
Phase V-14.6% (January 2029).
The mayor explained, this phased in approach, along with the previously pledged ARPA dollars, redevelopment dollars and the IFA financing package will hold down the rate increases for customers. According to the mayor, currently a household using 4,000 gallons of water pays $24.95 monthly. Beginning with phase I the rate will increase by $5.11 a month to $30.06. After the Phase II adjustment, which will be in effect until January 2027, the same customer will pay an additional $1.74 monthly for a total of $31.80 per month. The authority to issue bonds under the order will end December 31, 2030.
The city water utilities Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is estimated, over a 4-year period, to have an approximate cost of $164 million dollars. According to the mayor, “in our continuing effort to address the aged and sometimes failing water infrastructure of our water utility, reduce unacceptable water loss, and to ensure long term supply of safe, clean drinking water, while also providing for needed funding to provide first-rate water operations for years to come, we have taken this important and necessary action.” Neal McKee, Anderson’s Water Director stated, “When the mayor first took office, we immediately began to assess the condition of our water system and review our current and future water needs in our aging water system. We created an extensive database tracking our water leaks, valves, water mains and water meter needs and we implemented our Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), maintenance and inspection programs and a GIS mapping system. We undertook water tank maintenance, repair and inspection programs and have now painted five of our seven existing water tanks. We built a new expandable Lafayette Water Treatment Plant in 2019, implemented a full annual flushing program, and replaced 20,000 feet of galvanized water mains around the Homewood Addition. We are presently expanding the water plant capacity, have laid several thousand feet of new pipe, drilled new wells, and acquired property rights for our continued improvements. This ruling is a major win for Anderson and our utility customers.”
The IURC in its ruling noted that Anderson had been experiencing water leaks for 50 years and will continue to increase without significant and long-term action. The mayor stated, “This will be only the third water rate increase in nearly 29 years. We simply cannot continue to kick this can down the road which is the reason we have continually pushed this issue and fortunately have now received a successful ruling that will allow Anderson to continue to be in a great place to live, raise a family and do business, that will be able to provide healthy, safe, and abundant water supply that will support our community and its future growth and prosperity.”
In 2022 the mayor incorporated essential water system upgrades into his Anderson American Recue Plan Funding Proposal, setting aside $9 million dollars from the federal award of $23 million dollars to be used for additional water infrastructure improvements. The mayor later received approval from the Anderson Redevelopment Commission (ARC) for a $19 million investment in his proposed plans for water infrastructure improvements. In 2022 he proposed to the city council a water rate increase and bonding request to support the extensive improvements, but the divided council in December of 2022 voted down the request. The mayor stated, “That was a serious blow to support our water needs and an unnecessary delay and expense.
Despite this setback we decided to proceed forward with our CIP, as much as possible, using the dedicated ARPA dollars and the ARC commitment, and we have now underway our Lafayette Water Treatment Plant expansion, including installation of new production wells, that will result in five million additional gallons of water a day, available upon completion. We are simultaneously installing distribution/transmission lines that will move this water and reduce water leaks.” After the election in 2023 the mayor reintroduced, to the new council, his financial request to support the proposed water improvements, including his proposal to build a new water plant on the Southside of Anderson to replace the 75 year old Wheeler Plant and the six remaining, but aged, water wells on the Broadway corridor. The new city council approved the request in November of 2024 which paved the way to seek IURC approval.
Mayor Broderick thanked “the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for their thoughtful and impactful decision, the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) for their input and consumer advocacy, the Anderson City Council for their support, Chairman David Eicks and Board of Public Works members, Superintendent Neal McKee and the entire water department, Lori Young, PE of Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering, Inc., Jennifer Wilson, CPA of Crowe LLP, President Mark Beauchamp of Utility Financial Solutions, LLC, Dr. Douglas Whitham, Anderson City Controller, Matt House, PE, Anderson City Engineer, attorney J. Christopher Janak and his associates with Bose, McKinney and Evans, and our city legal department, and all of the associates and staff members associated with these individuals and groups who have worked tirelessly over the years to make this a reality.”