Water, sewer, and trash are billed separately, each with its own rate, minimum, and discounts. Here is exactly how a Monroe utility bill is built, what changed this year, and how to tell a rate increase apart from a leak.
Before comparing anything, you have to know how the bill is built. Under §36-23(b), every 5/8-inch meter — the standard residential size — is billed a minimum of 4,000 gallons a month, used or not. That minimum, plus one trash cart, is the least any Monroe household can be charged. It takes no guessing about how much water anyone uses, so it’s the cleanest possible before-and-after.
| Line item | July 2025 | July 2026 | Change | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water — 4,000 gal + $1 state fee | $20.28 | $22.20 | +$1.92 | +10% |
| Sewer — 4,000 gal | $17.36 | $25.16 | +$7.80 | +45% |
| Trash — one cart$28.00 collection + $2.00 cart rental | $16.00 | $30.00 | +$14.00 | +88% |
| Minimum bill | $53.64 | $77.36 | +$23.72 | +44.2% |
Most households use more than the 4,000-gallon minimum. Here is the same year-over-year comparison at a few common usage levels.
| Water used per month | July 2025 | July 2026 | Change | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,000 gal or less (the minimum) | $53.64 | $77.36 | +$23.72 | +44.2% |
| 6,000 gal | $71.96 | $100.54 | +$28.58 | +39.7% |
| 10,000 gal | $108.60 | $146.90 | +$38.30 | +35.3% |
| 15,000 gal | $154.40 | $204.85 | +$50.45 | +32.7% |
All figures assume one trash cart and no discounts. Use the calculator below for your own household.
Move the slider to your household’s usage to see today’s bill line by line. The second column shows what the same bill costs for residents who qualify for the City’s reduced rates. Every figure is calculated from the rate ordinances, not estimated.
| Line item | Standard | If you qualify for reduced rates |
|---|
The discounted column shows the reduced rates the ordinances provide for: the lifeline rate on water and sewer (85% of the standard rate on the first 5,000 gallons, for residents 62 or older or permanently disabled who meet HUD Section 8 income limits), and the senior trash rate of $18.00 per cart for a head of household 65 or older. The $2.00 cart rental fee is charged on every cart and is not reduced, so a senior pays $20.00 per cart in total. Eligibility for each is determined separately by the City, and both require applying in person. A resident who qualifies for one does not automatically qualify for the other. Seniors who also participate in SSI, Medicaid or SNAP may qualify for a $13.00 collection charge instead, or $15.00 per cart with the rental fee.
That happens, and it’s usually real. When a bill genuinely doubles or triples, the rate change is almost never the reason. Here’s what actually causes it.
A running toilet flapper quietly wastes thousands of gallons a month. A leak under the slab or in a buried line can run far more, and you may never see or hear a drop of it. You’re billed for water and sewer on every gallon, so the damage lands twice.
If a meter was estimated, unreadable, or swapped out, the correction shows up as a single large line later. One month ends up absorbing several months of usage.
Lifeline and senior trash rates must be re-applied for. Lifeline expires every December 31 and must be renewed in person by January 15, or it reverts to the full rate automatically.
Some properties have a second or irrigation meter. Each meter carries its own 4,000-gallon minimum, so a rarely-used second meter still adds to the bill every month.
Check your usage before you argue about rates. The City provides EyeOnWater, a free app that shows your meter reading close to real time and will alert you to continuous flow — the signature of a leak. It’s the fastest way to tell whether you have a rate problem or a plumbing problem. Search “EyeOnWater” in the App Store or Google Play, or ask Utility Operations at (318) 329-2220 to help you set it up.
Pull last month’s bill and this month’s and put them side by side. Look at the meter usage column — the gallons — not the dollar amount.
If the gallons are about the same and the dollars jumped, that’s rates, and this page explains it. If the gallons themselves jumped, you have water going somewhere you don’t know about, and no rate argument will fix it. That’s an EyeOnWater and a plumber problem, and the sooner you catch it the less it costs.
If you have a separate irrigation meter, water run through it is not charged sewer — the City doesn’t bill you to treat water that went onto your lawn. So a summer watering spike raises the water line without raising the sewer line. If both lines moved together, the extra water went through the house.
All three charges changed on the same night — February 10, 2026 — under three separate ordinances. But the rules for how they change going forward are very different from each other, and worth knowing.
Under §30-7(b), beginning January 1, 2027, sewer rates adjust automatically every year by the Consumer Price Index, effective each May 1. The code says these adjustments “shall be automatic and shall be calculated and determined administratively” — capped at 4% a year, with no Council vote required. February 10, 2026 was the last discretionary vote on the sewer rate.
Under §36-23(d), the Mayor submits an annual report on the financial condition of the water system to the Council by December 31, along with any proposed rate. The Council votes on it within 30 days. Increases are capped at 4% unless justified by exceptional circumstances or required by law.
The 4% annual cap on sewer applies to the automatic CPI adjustments that start in 2027. The February 2026 ordinance was a one-time reset of the base rate — from $4.34 to $6.29 per thousand gallons — adopted before the capped mechanism takes effect. The cap governs what happens next, not what already happened.
Sewer fees are restricted by §30-7.1 to the water and sewer fund, and may only be spent on operating, maintaining and repairing the sewer treatment and collection systems, and on debt service for them. They are not general fund money.
Sources. All rates are taken directly from the Monroe Code of Ordinances: §36-23 (water rates), §30-7 (sewer rates), and §16-20 (refuse collection charges), as amended by Ordinances 12,284, 12,283 and 12,285 — all adopted February 10, 2026. The 2024 figures come from the City’s published rate notice effective May 1, 2024, and were verified against actual bills.
Method. The calculator applies the ordinance rates exactly: water and sewer are charged per thousand gallons, each meter carries a 4,000-gallon monthly minimum, a $1.00 state Safe Drinking Water fee is added to the water line, and each trash cart carries the $28.00 collection charge plus the $2.00 cart rental fee levied by §16-20(b)(3). This model was checked against three real Monroe bills from 2024, 2025 and 2026 and reproduces every line item to the cent.
Verify it yourself. Utility Operations Division, (318) 329-2220. Read the ordinances at library.municode.com. If a number here is wrong, tell me and I’ll correct it.