Marshall Raises Bulk Water Rate to $2.00 per 100 Gallons

Marshall City Council | September 14, 2026

Article Summary: The Marshall City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-O-26 on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, rewriting the city’s water rate section to raise the charge for bulk water sold to tank wagons from $0.50 to $2.00 per 100 gallons, impose new account, insurance and deposit requirements on bulk water customers, and delete the subsection governing bulk water sold to fill private swimming pools.

Water Rate Ordinance Key Points:

Bulk water sold to tank wagons rises from $0.50 to $2.00 per 100 gallons — four times the rate being replaced.

Bulk water purchasers must now establish a Bulk Water Account with City Hall before withdrawing water, provide vehicle identification and proof of insurance, and may be required to post a $500 security deposit.

The ordinance strikes the entire subsection governing bulk water for filling private swimming pools, including its two-hour minimum call-out charge, and renumbers the golf course rate subsection from (5) to (4).

Residential and general service rates, and the automatic annual increases of 5 percent and 3 percent, appear in the amended text without strikeout or underscore. The ordinance takes effect 10 days after passage and approval.

MARSHALL — The Marshall City Council on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, unanimously adopted an ordinance quadrupling the price the city charges for bulk water loaded by tank wagon and imposing a new set of account requirements on anyone buying it.

Alderman Jarod Green moved to adopt the measure, recorded in the minutes as Ordinance 2026-O-26, an ordinance amending Chapter 86, Utilities, Article IV, Water Service, Division 1, Generally, Section 86-107, Charges and Rates for Water System. Alderman Greg King seconded. Upon roll call, all council members voted in favor and the motion carried. All council members were present for the meeting, according to the minutes, which record no discussion of the ordinance.

The copy of the ordinance distributed in the agenda packet uses strikeouts to mark deletions and underscores to mark additions. Under that markup, the old bulk water provision — “Bulk water sold to tank wagons loading water at a location provided by the city shall be charged at the rate of $0.50 per 100 gallons or fraction thereof” — is struck in its entirety and replaced with a rate of $2.00 per 100 gallons.

New Bulk Water Account Requirements

The added language goes well beyond the price. Under the new subsection, the city furnishes the meter, which is to be attached to the nearest reasonably available fire hydrant. Any person or business seeking to purchase bulk water from a city-designated hydrant or fill station must establish a Bulk Water Account with City Hall before withdrawing water.

Applicants must provide contact information, billing information, vehicle identification and proof of insurance satisfactory to the city. The city may require a security deposit of $500 for new accounts or accounts without an established payment history, and the ordinance allows that deposit to be waived for customers with an existing utility account in good standing. Water usage is to be billed monthly and is due under the same terms and conditions that apply to municipal utility accounts.

Pool-Filling Subsection Deleted

The ordinance also strikes the full subsection on bulk water sold for the filling of private swimming pools, which had been billed on a time-and-material basis. The deleted language charged the water itself at the tank wagon rate and added a labor charge at the straight-time cost, including benefits, of the city employee or employees involved in the filling if the work occurred between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a normal workday. Work outside those hours, or on a weekend or holiday, was billed at the city’s cost including benefits, with a minimum two-hour call-out charge.

The struck provisions also required the city to furnish the meter and the customer to furnish the hose from the meter to the pool, and left the timing of the work solely to the city’s discretion. The ordinance does not state what, if anything, replaces the deleted subsection.

With that subsection gone, the bulk sale of water to golf courses is renumbered from subsection (5) to subsection (4). Its terms are otherwise unmarked: $2.28 per 1,000 gallons commencing with the first billing, metered under the city’s regular rules, with the total annual charge limited to a maximum of $4,000 per year and metered water used for golf course purposes above $4,000 per year at no additional charge.

Metered Rates Carried Forward

The residential and general service rate tables appear in the amended text without either marker, indicating they are carried forward as written.

For residential service users inside the city limits, the charge is $4.81 per 1,000 gallons for the first 1,000 gallons and $3.05 per 1,000 gallons for all usage above that. The minimum monthly water service charge equals the charge for the first 1,000 gallons, except for multifamily dwelling structures, trailer parks and apartment complexes with more than one dwelling unit served through a single meter. In those cases the minimum is the first-1,000-gallon rate multiplied by the number of units available for service through the meter, up to a maximum of five units. Commencing with the first billing date for each user after July 1 of each year, there is a 5 percent increase to both the water service charge and the minimum monthly charge in effect prior to the increase.

General service users inside the city limits pay $4.81 per 1,000 gallons for the first 1,000 gallons, a middle tier at $3.05 per 1,000 gallons, and $2.43 per 1,000 gallons for all usage over 40,000 gallons, with a 3 percent annual increase on the same July 1 schedule. Both residential and general service users outside the city limits pay the amount calculated inside the limits plus 50 percent added to their water service charge and minimum monthly charge.

A Section With a Long Amendment History

Section 86-107 traces back to the 1976 code, where it appeared as Section 12-151, and the citation line printed with the ordinance records a string of amendments: Ordinance Nos. 91-23, 94-12, 96-1, 97-2, 98-14, 00-3, 14-13, 16-7 and 18-1. The most recent amendment reflected in that history is Ordinance No. 18-1, adopted Jan. 8, 2018.

The packet also carries an editor’s note showing that the council has previously voted to suspend its own escalator. Ordinance No. 14-13, adopted June 23, 2014, provided “That the City of Marshall forego or waive the five percent (5%) increase scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2014” in subsections 86-107(1)a and 86-107(2)a.

The ordinance is severable and takes effect 10 days after its passage and approval as provided by law. The copy in the packet carries a blank ordinance number, blank roll-call columns listing the eight council members, and blank passage, approval and attestation dates; the number 2026-O-26 and the unanimous result come from the minutes.