June 5th, 2025 by WCBC Radio

The Cumberland Mayor and City Council are set to finalize the water rate increase at their next public meeting.  Rates are slated to rise 20%.  Mayor Ray Morriss told WCBC the council does not take these rate hikes lightly…

   

“How seriously that myself and the rest of council consider these things when staff brings the recommendations to us. We take a good look at it and get down into the detail of it.”

The Mayor said that the water service is still running in the red, despite two consecutive years of rate hikes…

   

“Last year when we raised it 20%, we were still losing half a million dollars in the water fund and not even breaking even. And when we do that this year with the 20% increase, we’ll still lose a half a million dollars over what our costs have gone up.”