Pulaski residents have seen their water rates increase three times in the past four years, but a 140% requested rate hike filed this week is by far the highest yet.
The pending rate case will help finance a pipeline, estimated to cost more than $15 million, to bring water 8.25 miles from Hobart this summer to replace Pulaski’s local supply.
After a 39% increase implemented in September 2025, average residential customers currently pay $151.30 quarterly for 10,000 gallons of water.
If the pending rate request is approved by the Public Service Commission as submitted, that same quarterly water bill would increase by $210.30 to $361.60. Individual water bills will vary depending on the amount of water used.
Pulaski Village Board President Keith Chambers said informational meetings over the past months about the pipeline project have been “contentious,” but the reaction during a meeting last week was much milder.
“Not one bit,” of animosity was expressed, Chambers said. “People want clear, clean water, and Lake Michigan provides that better than ours, which has higher amounts of iron and manganese.”
While the cost may be hard to swallow, the city of Green Bay’s water won’t stain water fixtures or prematurely shorten the life of water heaters and softeners like Pulaski’s has, Chambers said in a phone interview April 1.
According to the rate application filed March 31 with the PSC, the Pulaski Water Department seeks rates that would boost annual revenue by $1.62 million, to service part of the pipeline debt but also erase a projected $341,443 income deficit this year.
Without the new rates, the water department projects earning about $1.2 million in revenue and $1.54 million in expenses. The new rates are expected to boost revenue by $1.62 million, create a net income of about $1.28 million and yield a 6.7% rate of return on the value of its infrastructure investment.
In its order approving last September’s rate increase, the PSC suggested the village file another rate case, possibly in two steps, by this July. Instead, the village got its request a few months early and in one giant step.
The water department expects to file another water rate case next year, once the total cost of the pipeline project is known.
In January 2025, the PSC authorized the pipeline project at $15.37 million but whether it’s completed at that price won’t be known for a while, Chambers said.
The pumps needed for the project are back ordered and won’t be delivered until July, which was the intended completion date for the project. It now looks like residents won’t see Green Bay water coming out of their faucets until August, said Chambers.
In addition to the September 2025 rate increase, the PSC granted Pulaski a 3% simplified rate increase in 2024 and a 22% increase in March 2022.
