Chandler staff finally have some direction for its proposed next utility rate pricing strategy.

An Aug. 4 Chandler City Council work session produced a consensus on what proposed rate increase plan council will send out for a public input cycle, with the hopes of making final decisions in advance of a March 2, 2026 effective date for new utility rates.

Council member O.D. Harris was out of town and wasn’t at a July 14 work session that addressed many of the same elements of utility rates covered Aug. 4. On July 14, in the informal poll Mayor Kevin Hartke takes at the end of a work session, council members deadlocked, 3-3, on which of two strategies to choose.

At the end of the Aug. 4 work session, Hartke told the council he’s directing staff to take an “across-the-board” 15% rate increa

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