KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Officials in Ketchikan have approved an ordinance that more than doubles water rates for the southeast Alaska city’s seafood processors over the next three years.
The Ketchikan Daily News reports the City Council approved the ordinance Thursday. Water rates will increase by 35 percent each year over the next three years for Ketchikan’s three fish processors — E.C. Phillips and Son, Trident Seafoods and Alaska General Seafoods.
The new water rates come in response to a consulting firm’s study that found the companies accounted for nearly half the cost of providing water service but were paying less than 5 percent of generated revenue.
Paul Cyr, with E.C. Phillips and Son, has spoken out against claims that seafood processors are being subsidized by the city or other ratepayers.
