Water and sewer bills will be going up in Fort Dodge on Jan. 1.

The City Council on Monday gave final approval to a two-part rate increase, with the first phase going into effect Jan. 1 and the second phase going into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

Water bills for average residential customers will 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 will go up by $1.33 per month on Jan. 1 and by a similar amount on Jan. 1, 2026.

Councilman Cameron Nelson was absent from the two otherwise unanimous votes which gave final approval to the increases.

No citizens addressed the council about the increases, and none of the elected officials commented on them.

Throughout the process of introducing the proposed increases and approving them on the required three council votes, the elected officials have said the increases are necessary to keep up with the rising expenses of operating the two utilities. Monday’s final approval of the rate hikes came on the day that the council began reviewing the proposed budget for 2025-2026. During that budget workshop the elected officials learned that the cost of day-to-day operations of the water plant will go up by $200,000 for the next fiscal year.