City leaders are considering increasing rates as high as 31 percent for next year, and following that with more increases in the following years.
These rate hikes are reportedly needed to make up for years of low sewer rates that did not accurately reflect the costs of maintaining the sanitary facilities. The city had been hiding the imbalance in its sewer budget since 1998 by drawing on its special sewer reserve fund, which is supposed to be used only for capital projects.
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On Tuesday night, City Engineer Mo Sharma advised council members to increase sewer rates to level out this imbalance and replenish the sewer reserve fund. One proposal he presented involved increasing sewer rates by 25 percent next year, and following that with a second 25 percent increase for fiscal year 2011-2012.
Those increases would raise the average homeowner’s annual sewer rate from about $456 today to $712 by 2012.
Council members cautiously acknowledged the need to raise rates, and they scheduled a public meeting on May 5 to address the issue.
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