PHOENIX - Arizona Corporation Commission Chair Kevin Thompson successfully introduced an amendment in the Arizona Water rate case that further protects Northern Arizona ratepayers. Thompson’s original amendment removed $4.6 million in the incremental costs additionally identified in the Settlement to bury a water tank in the City of Sedona from the billing obligations of 15,000 ratepayers in other systems who will not benefit from the tank's burial.

Additionally, Vice Chair Myers provided a verbal amendment to Thompson’s proposal that adopts aspects of a similar Myers amendment that will allow costs for Sedona ratepayers to be further mitigated if the city provides or identifies additional funding to cover the cost to bury the tank. Commissioner Walden further introduced an amendment that increased the $4.6 million in incremental costs to $6.058 million after additional incremental costs were identified during the five-hour discussion.

“Hopefully this is a strong signal to all water companies, local governments, and residents moving forward that if you require special conditions or place limitations on infrastructure based upon aesthetic preferences, you may be responsible for those extra costs,” said Chair Thompson. “I’m sympathetic to the majority of the Sedona customers who will be solely responsible for these added costs, but it is not an equitable requirement for the 15,000 customers in other communities to be responsible for millions in extra costs because a vocal minority didn’t like the way a water tank looked.”

"I’m pleased the Commission directed Arizona Water to engage in discussions with the City of Sedona about funds to help cover the incremental costs to bury the East Sedona Storage Tank,” said Vice Chair Myers. “Because the City required and is directly benefitting from undergrounding the tank, it’s only fair that they contribute financially to cover the City-imposed aesthetic costs. Otherwise, the entire incremental cost of burying the tank will be borne by Arizona Water’s Sedona System customers.”   

On July 24, 2025 the ACC voted on a Settlement Agreement in the Arizona Water case that originally called for all the system's 21,000 customers to pay for the burial of a 1.5-million-gallon water tank that was required to be undergrounded as part of negotiations between Sedona and Arizona Water. Chair Thompson’s amendment bifurcated the extra incremental costs and allocated them to Sedona customers only, removing financial obligations for ratepayers from the Northern system which includes customers in the Lakeside, Overgaard, Pinetop Lakes, Forrest Towne, Pinewood, Rimrock, and Valley Vista public water systems. 

As a result of the amendments and the Walden verbal amendment, the average residential customer bill for the Sedona system will increase roughly $3 per month beyond the original estimated impact. However, the average residential bill for the 15,000 customers in the seven other Northern water systems will decrease approximately $3 per month compared to the Settlement’s original terms.