ASHLAND — Residents in the city of Ashland will continue seeing a 23% increase in their sewer utility rates after Gov. Mike Kehoe vetoed $11 million in sewage system improvements for the city. Kehoe vetoed 208 items while signing the budget for fiscal year 2026 on Monday.
The first 23% sewer utility rate increase went into effect May 1. The city expects to add another increase of 23% in May 2026.
“It’s not to say those will be the final set-in-stone rate increases, but that is at least the preliminary plan,” said Kyle Michel, the Ashland city administrator.
The city is using the tax money to fund its wastewater expansion project. The project will take the plant from a daily treatment capacity of 600,000 gallons to 1.6 million gallons. This is needed to account for the city’s growing population.
The project is expected to cost about $23 million, and the city made the decision to move forward with the project without state funding in mind.
“This project kicked off long before we considered state funding as an option, so we had planned 23% rate increases on the sewer side of our utility structure for the next three fiscal years,” Michel said.
Michel said if the city had received the $11 million from the state, it would have gone toward offsetting some of the rate increases.
“Obviously it’s a bit of a setback that the funding was cut from the state budget, but we had already taken the necessary steps to advance the project with or without that funding, so while it will ultimately make the project more expensive, it doesn’t change the fact that the project is moving forward as planned,” Michel said.
Construction for the wastewater treatment began in May and is expected to be completed in July 2026, Michel said.
