HILLSBORO, Texas (KXXV) — “There’s been an uproot moving with everything when it comes to small business," said the owner of Rise and Smoke BBQ, Michael Johnson.
Johnson says with the high rise in inflation owning a business isn’t easy.
While everything is costing more, Johnson is now preparing for the possibility of seeing his water bill go up through the city.
He says he’s as prepared as he can be.
“We knew that almost every element was going up as bills are starting to kind of increase then we have to take that into consideration price for price," Johnson said.
"If you pay for a soda, a bag of chips, or a sandwich you have to pay for the elements in which to produce that."
Johnson says they’re lucky that they have only raised their prices once — other businesses aren’t as lucky as Johnson.
Some felt the impact of the water rate increase with their bill doubling.
“It’s pretty crazy — around $400, of course, that’s with the sewer, water, the dumpster," said Manager of Tex Mex, Carlos Diaz.
"They usually run around $200, so it doubled in price."
A few months ago, 25 News shared a story about the City of Hillsboro planning to increase water rates, which hasn’t happened in three decades.
Because the city hasn’t increased their rates, it left them owing their water supplier, Aquillia Water, $1 million.
This 15% increase impacts residents and businesses, and goes into effect in December.
Diaz also plans to increase his prices once the increase goes into effect.
“We know that it is going to impact our residents, and we hate that — at the same time, there are no other dollars to pay this increased cost with governments are legally required to keep their buckets separate," said City Manager, Megan Henderson.
"Tax dollars cannot be used to pay the debts of the water and sewer fund."
While Johnson was able to ride out the first increase without being charged more — Johnson says if he does see an increase, he believes that increase will better help the city in the long run.
“It would be an upward swing that would help the community and the small businesses," Johnson said.
