Columbia water, sewer customers might pay more next year

Columbia residents could see their monthly water and sewer bills go up about $2.50 next year if city leaders heed the advice of a consultant.

That’s about the price of “a couple of Mountain Dews in order to have clean water, clear water and safe water,” City Councilman Howard Duvall said Tuesday, as City Council began its annual round of budget deliberations.

After deciding not to raise customers’ rates last year, the city must decide how to continue to cover water and sewer expenses and meet the requirements of a 2014 EPA consent decree to improve its sewer system.

A 4.75 percent rate increase has been suggested for the coming financial year, beginning in July. For the average in-city residential customer, that would be a $2.49 monthly increase in their water and sewer bill. For out-of-city residents, the average monthly increase would be $4.24.

Even with the proposed rate increases, Columbia water and sewer customers still would pay less than customers in Cayce, Sumter, Charleston, Raleigh and other regional cities.

Columbia has made significant improvements to its sewer system since May 2014, when it embarked on a $750 million program to reduce sanitary sewer overflows and improve water quality, utilities and engineering director Joey Jaco said Tuesday. The city has cut the number of sanitary sewer overflows in the system by more than 70 percent and continues to implement new technology to assess and improve aged infrastructure, Jaco said.

“We’ve come too far on dramatically improving the system to turn back,” Mayor Steve Benjamin said. Raising customer rates is “not something that’s particularly popular ... but investing in our water and wastewater systems is the right thing to do.”

Consultants from Black and Veatch Management Consulting recommend the city continue to raise its water and sewer rates each year through at least 2022, including a possible 13 percent hike in 2019.

City manager Teresa Wilson said Tuesday she does not see how the city could get by with less than a 4.75 percent rate increase in the upcoming year.

City leaders also are pondering whether to raise stormwater fees to pay for new projects over the next several years.

There could be a way to bring in more money to the water and sewer budgets without raising rates, Councilman Daniel Rickenmann said.

Currently, customers are not charged for the first 300 cubic feet of water they use each month. Rickenmann suggested that charging for all the water customers use would bring in millions more dollars without having to raise rates.

Council will continue to consider water and sewer rates over the coming months.

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Columbia water, sewer customers might pay more next year."