La Conner’s Town Council will be faced with an agonizing task in the near future: they must ask their constituents to pay more for utilities.

Residents should brace themselves and perhaps start budgeting for a sticker shock that could hit with the April water bills.

The town’s water mains and sewer lines are starting to fall apart, and the costs to maintain them have outpaced the yearly rise in utility bills. On top of that, the price charged by the town’s water supplier, the city of Anacortes, has been rising yearly.

Presently, a La Conner home that uses 500 cubic feet of water per month pays $100.14 for water, sewage and the town’s drainage utility.

Rate increases recommended by the town’s engineer to pay for the needed infrastructure could push that monthly bill to around $115.

Last week the Town Council was presented with the engineer’s report suggesting a billing scheme that would have the water, sewer and drainage portions raise by 5 percent every year on top of whatever the consumer price index is. He also recommended a $9 monthly surcharge to pay for a new 20-year bond to fund a $3.5 million replacement of the town’s main water transmission line that runs down La Conner Whitney Road.

That line had a big blowout near the Channel Drive neighborhood over the summer. That’s been happening more frequently, and every time the pipe blows, the repair costs are $10,000 to $15,000, said Town Administrator John Doyle.

The water main ruptures are more common in the summer, Doyle said, because of a “hammering” effect caused by agricultural users. When farmers turn off the valves after irrigating fields, the sudden pressure change can be too much for the 40-year-old asbestos and clay pipe to withstand.

In all, according to the town’s six-year plan, needed infrastructure improvements will cost: water system $4.3 million; sewer plant $1 million; streets $2.6 million; and the drainage system that keeps little lakes from forming in low-lying areas all over town needs $1.2 million.

Water bill increases for town residents occur in April. Increases for the Shelter Bay Community, which buys water under contract with La Conner, will see any increase in July.

However, La Conner residents will be paying the lions share of the infrastructure cost because Shelter Bay has its own water lines. Water reels through to Shelter Bay from a line on Sherman Street in La Conner.