City approves water rate reduction incentive for Simmons Pet Food

Simmons Pet Food announced a fourth production line in Emporia in July 2022.

The City of Emporia entered into an incentive agreement with Simmons Pet Food Wednesday, as part of the company's new line expansion.

In July 2022, Simmons Pet Food announced the addition of a fourth high-speed production line in Emporia as part of a $115 million investment in two Kansas facilities Monday afternoon.

The investment includes a new pet food distribution center in Edgerton, and the start of operations at a second production line in Dubuque, Iowa. Under the agreement with the City of Emporia, Simmons would guarantee a minimum amount of water consumption in exchange for a rate reduction.

"Probably the biggest piece of that is a water rate reduction for them," City Manager Trey Cocking said. "It's kind of a two-fold piece for them. One is a 12% reduction in their water rates; the other is they are guaranteeing to buy 650 million gallons of water from us every year."

Cocking said the agreement not only guarantees a water purchaser for the city — with Simmons using around half of the city's water — it also reduces the price for residents.

"The presence of Simmons reduces the average water bill by about $10," Cocking said. "If they weren't there, average water bills would have to be $10 to pay for that cost."

With the new agreement, residents’ water bills will still be discounted by around $9.

The move was one part of three executive sessions with action taken at the commission's meeting Wednesday.

The commission also approved an application to the State of Kansas for water marketing rights.

Cocking said the city's 40-year contract is up in October. The city currently has about a billion gallons of water at the Council Grove Reservoir to use in reserve in case of drought. While the City has natural stream rights on the Neosho River, in the event the city needs to buy water, the contract would need to be in place for the Reservoir to hold the water for Emporia.

"When it's dry, we say release some water, and the water they release, that's our marketing water," Cocking explained.

The new contract would renew the same amount, though Cocking said the city may look to purchase more if possible.

The city also voted to enter into an agreement with Emporia Community Club on cleaning up title work on the Reeble Park pickleball courts.

"At Reeble Park, we just had to do some cleaning up on creating easements, making sure we have the property transferred right," Cocking said. "... We’ve been working on an agreement with them and we appreciate them working with us to get everything cleared up on it. At the end of the day, I think we have a really great product there with Reeble Park."

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