NATCHEZ — Some Natchez residents and business owners may soon see an increase in their water bills, but not because the city is eyeing a rate increase.

City Engineer and Natchez Water Works Superintendent David Gardner said the Water Works is currently conducting a count of residences and businesses that receive garbage collection services from Waste Pro USA.

Waste Pro Division Manager Doug Atkins said that since taking over the city’s garbage collection, the company has found it is picking up at more locations than the city is paying for now.

A $13.74 garbage and sewer fee is included in residence’s or businesses’ monthly water bill. Currently, that fee may be shared across multiple users.

“We have been going in there and finding that there may be four houses on one (water) meter … so there needs to be four separate meters with four separate charges for garbage and sewer,” Gardner said.

That could result in a more expensive bill for some residents and businesses.

“It’s not a new billing procedure … it’s just us going in there and correcting something that has been overlooked for years,” Gardner said.

The city has proposed to increase water rates an average of 5 percent for users who exceed the minimum water usage set by the city. For users below that level, rates will increase by $2 — $1 for sewage and $1 for water.

Currently, the minimum water usage is set at 300 cubic feet or 2,250 gallons per month. Under the current plan, the board of aldermen is also considering reducing the minimum water usage to 250 cubic feet, or 1,870 gallons per month.

The last time aldermen approved a rate increase was in 2007, when rates increased an average of $6 per month for residents.

Mayor Butch Brown has said that in order to avoid raising taxes, the city needs to raise fees to meet the city’s fiscal needs. The city has also proposed an increase to building inspection fees.

Officials previously said the water rate increase would be taken up by the board of aldermen at its Sept. 24 meeting. But the board did not discuss it at the Sept. 24 or Sept 25 meeting.

Brown said Wednesday the board will review the proposed rate increase at a later date.

Some of the aldermen, Brown said, are not in favor of increasing water rates.

“‘No’ is just a request for more information,” he said. “We’ll keep giving them enough data to make them understand what we’re doing.”

Brown said aldermen are concerned about the effect an increase would have on low-income residents. He said an increase would only raise rates $1 for low-income residents.