The New York City Water Board, after three weeks of public hearings marked by near-universal opposition to rate increases, voted to raise the water and sewer tax rate by 12.9 percent.
Both Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and officials of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) noted after the vote on Friday, May 21 that “costs are overwhelmingly due to federally mandated investments that have to be paid for,” according to mayoral spokesperson Marc LaVorgna.
To soften the blow, the Board doubled the discount for those who have their water and sewer bills “direct paid” from their bank accounts – from 1 to 2 percent.
Other measures included doubling the fee for terminating water service from $500 to $1,000 (a job that costs the city $2,700 according to DEP figures) and a pilot program to charge parking lot owners for sewer treatment of their rainwater runoff.
The hike should raise the average New Yorker’s water and sewer bill from about $723 to $816 beginning July 1, when the new rate takes effect, according to DEP.
“Federal and state water quality standards are intended to protect public health, and supplying and treating water to meet those standards is DEP’s most important obligation,” said DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway after the vote.
“But a one-size-fits-all approach has substantially, and unnecessarily, increased the financial burden of the water system on New Yorkers, many of whom are struggling in these difficult economic times,” he added.
In the past decade, $13 billion, or 68 percent of capital spending on the city water system has gone to projects imposed by federal and state regulators.
“We have had to compensate for decades of under-investment in the system.” LaVorgna said.
Holloway also announced the expansion of the Water Debt Assistance Program to assist homeowners at risk of foreclosure of past-due water and sewer debt. As part of the original program launched in April by Mayor Bloomberg, eligible two- or three-family homeowners at risk of foreclosure from a lien sale of their water and sewer debt have been removed from the foreclosure list. Single-family homeowners can now apply.
The deal is that the city will wait until the property is sold, refinanced or the owner has the ability to pay the outstanding debt – if they pay all subsequent water bills on time to remain in the program.
