The City of McCleary is reminding residents that recently recommended rate increases are just that — recommendations.

“The rate study made recommendations based on our capital projects as to what we should be basing our utility rates at. There’s shock value when it was presented to the city,” Mayor Brent Schiller said during the Oct. 12 city council meeting. “We know the reality, and when we got that study we thought, ‘OK, time out.’ We live in a small community and a depressed community and we know there’s a lot of elderly, and we know the community has already suffered, and we know we’re already at high utility rates.”

A recent rate study by FCS Group of Redmond recommended significant increases for light and power, water and sewer rates.

The study was ordered by the state auditor’s office following a finding in October 2015 that showed the city had improperly used funds from light and power to balance its general fund.

The study was completed in September 2016. If the city followed the recommendations, a monthly bill for electricity currently costing $95 would balloon to more than $144 by 2022. A monthly bill of $82 for sewer would be as high as $108 by 2022. Water rates would increase by 5 percent every year until 2022.

Those increases are unlikely, the Mayor said.

“Are we going to do the 20 percent? Probably not,” Schiller said. “We’re just going to have to figure out what’s the best level of service the city can provide for the citizens of McCleary.”

Much of the rate increases are related to capital improvement projects, but those may be delayed or staggered to hold rates back, Schiller explained, or changes could be made now to help fund projects in five or 10 years.

Another issue driving up the recommended rate increases is a proposed reserve fund that covers 90 days of operations. That, too, could be adjusted to keep rates lower.

“There’s also the recommendation of having so much cash on hand — in this case, 90 days — to operate and keep your utility up and running. Now, is that a logistic goal for McCleary? Probably not. But what is the cost we can bear to get there? Is it 45 days or 30 days?,” Schiller said.

When the recommendations were published, residents voiced their opposition on social media, some going so far as to say they would move out of McCleary. Schiller heard that opposition and he hoped further explanation would quell those concerns.

“Can we do (a 90-day reserve)? The burden we would have to put on the citizens… I already hear of everybody saying they’re going to move out of town, and I could just imagine if that was the case it would be a ghost town,” he said.