CLIFTON — As Clifton's water project nears its completion, addressing the need to offset the cost of the project is among the topics that will be discussed on Wednesday during the Clifton City Council's first meeting of 2026.

Clifton City Clerk Eve Waite said residents currently pay $50.90 per month for water but that will have to be increased to help pay off some of the loans taken out to fund the water project.

“We're not yet sure what the increase will be,” Waite said, adding that the undetermined number is part of the reason for the public hearing on the matter at Wednesday's meeting.

The council meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Moyle Community Center.

The water project was initiated several years ago when, according to incoming Clifton Mayor Andy Clawson, inspectors determined the city's water system would not maintain the minimum required flow rate should they have to fight a fire at the largest structure in town.

Needed to resolve that issue was a new well and a 100,000 gallon storage tank. The project also includes a structure to protect the well.

According to Krystal Denney, community and economic development director for the Southeast Idaho Council of Governments, the total funding for the project came in at a little more than $3.1 million. Denney said the funding was provided via roughly $950,000 in grant money and over $2 million in low-interest loans.

“The city is only responsible for repaying the loan portions of this funding,” Denney wrote in an email. “The loans are secured through a 'Revenue Bond' and are repaid using revenue generated by the water system—meaning utility payments.”

A common misconception, she added, is that the loans impact property taxes. She said they do not.

The grants came from the Idaho Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. The loans are through the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

During Wednesday's Clifton City Council meeting, just after the swearing in of newly elected officials, the floor will be opened for the public hearing “concerning water rates,” according to the agenda.

Clawson said the project has been ongoing for several years and is one of the reasons he decided to run for mayor, expressing a desire to see the project to completion. He expects the project to be completed later this year, in the spring or summer.

Denny said the project started in 2022 and experienced one major delay when the first well that was drilled failed. That required drilling another well at an alternate site.