(GILBERT) - Gilbert officials really want residents to understand what is happening.
The Town of Gilbert hosted its second of three listening sessions at Town Hall on Saturday, which was held as a resource to residents who are facing extreme increases on their utility bills.
Photo credit: Teri Tracy
These increases, which began in 2023 and are planned to reach 100% as of April 2026, have been met with heavy backlash from residents, who have packed recent town council meetings to share their concerns and express their inability to maintain the rising costs.
The Saturday listening session was attended by the town council, alongside representatives from the public works department, who brought along examples of the town’s old water meters as well as new ones. Senior public works utility technician John Simanten explained that the new meters, made by Mueller, are extremely sensitive to small leaks and lower volumes of water usage, whereas the older models frequently missed such usage.
Photo credit: Teri Tracy
“The issue isn’t with the meters," Simanten said, "But rather with the radio system that sends a signal to us."
He explained that some of these radio devices would read every 1/10 of a gallon as a full gallon, which was an early issue that had been resolved, but did cause some residents to experience baffling utility bills at the time.
Their display also included a variety of other projects and maintenance areas, such as replacing old pipes that were first installed in the 1980s, as well as placements for older, unreliable systems still in place. One project focused on reengineering water lines that were poorly laid in the past, including pipes with gas lines installed over them. Others included prioritizing weak points that needed replacement before they burst, which can cause sinkholes and be extremely costly to fix.
While exact numbers on the town’s budget were unavailable, the recent increases in water rates were reportedly designed in part to offset the cost of such expensive maintenance and improvements.
Photo credit: Teri Tracy
Another table was set up to directly address resident billing concerns. It was made available to provide direct access to customer service representatives, who could then immediately look into customer accounts on-site and resolve billing issues in real-time following the new billing system implementation.
Several other tables were occupied by town council members, as well as residents who came to discuss their concerns about the town’s recent direction regarding its water infrastructure. Many conversations centered around the future of Gilbert real estate, with utility prices skyrocketing, while others expressed their concerns over long-term, sky-high utility rates.
Photo credit: Teri Tracy
Registration for the event was full days before it took place, indicating the urgency for answers to ongoing issues. Several council members spent the entirety of the two-hour session with residents addressing concerns. However, it is unclear what changes, if any, are planned for the near future to ease the burden of increased costs.
While the town council has not hosted any regular council meetings open to the public for the past two weeks, meetings are expected to resume this week. An agenda for the November 18 meeting is now available on the town’s website, including details about the upcoming meeting and further discussions on hiring additional employees in various departments.
The upcoming meeting is sure to attract another large number of residents to speak on the water rate increases, which we have seen in recent weeks when the public comment period needed to be extended from 30 minutes to an hour to accommodate the influx of resident speakers. A future study session is scheduled for the discussion of water rates, including changes and tier rates, which may benefit residents who consume less water.
OpGov.ai reached out to Town of Gilbert spokesperson Joanna Guzman for comment on Saturday’s listening session, who is responding this week. OpGov.ai will follow-up with her answers and further information by the end of the week.
If you have any comments or questions on the issue, please contact me at teri.t@lead4earth.org.
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