Birmingham Water Works customers will pay more for turning on the faucet next year.

The Water Works Board unanimously today approved a 4.8 percent monthly rate increase that will take effect Jan. 1.

Officials said the increase amounts to about $2.29 for the average customer each month.

The water works serves about 770,000 customers in Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, and Walker counties.

Water works officials last month said they expected a 5.8 percent increase. But they settled on 4.8 percent after reducing expenses, including $1.4 million in labor costs.

At today’s meeting, board members unanimously approved the utility’s $312 million operating budget for 2024, in addition to its $83.71 million capital budget. The rate increase is included in the operating budget.

The board’s vote came after a series of public meetings to discuss the budget and rate increase.

The water works is mandated by state law to engage the public after passage of major reforms at the utility. The utility is required to hold a public hearing 30 days before voting to increase utility rates.

Feedback from those hearings helped officials make some adjustments in the spending plan, including ways to lower the planned rate increase.

“As we went to those town hall meetings we heard from our customers and were passionate about that,” said General Manager Michael Johnson.

Board member Larry Ward also noted that the water works’ recent bond refinancing saved money in its debt repayment that would have otherwise been passed on to the ratepayers. The recent transaction saved the utility about $300,000 a year in debt payments, officials said.

“We reached in the grass and got all we could get and saved all the money we could,” said Ward, himself a retired public finance banker.

Still, joint customers of the Birmingham Water Works and the Jefferson County Sewer will get an additional increase following passage of increased sewer rates in October. The water works handles the billing for those Jefferson County sewer customers, but those rates are controlled by the Jefferson County Commission.