Cape Girardeau residents voted “yes,” allowing for annual water rate increases from 5 percent to up to 15 percent in this week’s special election. So now higher water bills are coming. According to Cape Girardeau’s Public Works Director Strictly what you’re paying now versus what a 15% increase would be would be $4.71 a month. That’s if you’re using all 5000 gallons; most people don’t. So I would say less than a $4.00 increase for many of our households here within the city of Cape Girardeau.