The council had originally planned to have the increases kick in this July, but instead decided to wait until later in the fall.

Bend City Manager Eric King talked about it on the KBND Morning News Thursday morning.

"Last night the council passed a 5 percent water increase and a 9 percent sewer increase.  But they decided to defer the increase until after the irrigation season.  Initially we planned for it to start on July 1st and now we are moving it back to October 1st.  So it won't take effect until November."

The current monthly residential sewer charge in Bend is around $45 dollars.

The sewer rate increase is expected to add four dollars to monthly sewer bills and a dollar and a half to water bills.

The increases will help pay for major sewer and water projects.