A pair of rate increases for monthly water and sanitary sewer bills were advanced by the Fort Dodge City Council on Monday.

Water bills for average residential customers would go up by $2.12 per month starting Jan 1 and by a similar amount on Jan. 1, 2026.

Sanitary sewer bills for average residential customers would go up by $1.33 per month on Jan. 1 and by a similar amount on Jan. 1. 2026.

Two residents objected to the increases during Monday’s council meeting including a woman who asked “How are you expecting people to survive?”

“Our costs are going up as a city and we have to cover those,” said Councilman Dave Flattery. “That’s the reality we’re dealing with.”

Councilman Cameron Nelson said the council could decide to not increase the rates and become popular for that decision. But he said doing that would leave the council and residents facing a very large rate increase a few years from now. He said the idea is that small incremental increases will be easier for people to handle as opposed to a single large increase.

“We’re trying to do it in a way that won’t financially cripple people,” Nelson said.

City Manager David Fierke said the costs for chemicals, fuel and insurance are increasing.

“The cost to just operate the system is going up ,” he said. “The city utilities are not immune from inflation.”

The council approved the rate increases on two separate unanimous votes.

The increases must be approved one more time to go into effect.