San Antonio Water System customers’ bills are likely going up again next year as the utility prepares to buy water from the Vista Ridge pipeline and continue funding required upgrades to its sewer network.
SAWS’ proposed 2019 budget includes rate hikes that would increase the average residential customer’s bill by 4.4 percent, SAWS Chief Financial Officer Doug Evanson said Tuesday at the utility’s October board meeting.
Technically, SAWS is proposing raising three different per-gallon rates included in customers’ bills. The 2019 budget calls for a 4.3 percent increase in water supply fees, a 0.4 percent increase in water delivery fees, and an 8 percent increase in sewer fees.
Unlike previous years, there will be no City Council vote on next year’s rate increases. That’s because because SAWS successfully secured City Council approval in December for rate increases in 2018 and 2019. The motion passed 8-3, with Councilmen Greg Brockhouse (D6), John Courage (D9), and Clayton Perry (D10) voting no.
Overall, SAWS’ 2019 budget is proposed to add up to $828.3 million, a $26.5 million increase compared with this year. Since 2016, SAWS’ budget has gone up more than 17 percent, from $703.9 million.
SAWS’ board of trustees is expected to vote on the 2019 budget at its November meeting.
The rate increases would take the average customer’s bill from $65.69 to $68.60, Evanson said. For year-by-year comparisons, SAWS assumes an average customer uses 7,092 gallons of water per month.
Click here to read Evanson’s budget presentation from the meeting.
Last year, SAWS officials said the 2019 rate increase would be 4.7 percent, a number also included in Evanson’s presentation to the SAWS board. On Wednesday, Evanson said in an email that number was based on past assumptions about pass-through fees from other entities and that the 4.4 percent change reflects the current fees.
The presentation also includes a value for an average 2018 SAWS bill as $62.89. That number doesn’t reflect the pass-through fees, which bring the average 2018 bill to $65.69.
Recent increases have put SAWS average customers’ bills higher than those in Dallas but lower than in Fort Worth, Houston, and Austin, Evanson said, citing SAWS’ analysis of Texas cities’ water and sewer rates.
The top three reasons for the rate increase are SAWS’ Vista Ridge pipeline, its continued work on its sewer system, and increased personnel costs, Evanson said.
At the meeting, Evanson discussed SAWS’ two-decade efforts to diversify its water supply beyond the Edwards Aquifer, the vast but drought-sensitive water-bearing rock layer that serves as the San Antonio region’s main water supply.
“We’re getting ready to check that box with the most significant alternative source of supply that has ever come online in San Antonio’s history,” Evanson said. “That water’s scheduled to begin delivery in 2020, but there’s a lot of work to be done between now and then.”
Vista Ridge is a 140-mile pipeline now under construction that will connect San Antonio to aquifers below Burleson and Milam counties. To prepare to make payments for Vista Ridge water estimated at $220,000 per day, SAWS has budgeted for a $13.9 million increase in its water supply operating reserve in 2019, Evanson said.
SAWS has also budgeted $56.6 million in 2019 for work on the Central Water Integration Pipeline, which will help move Vista Ridge water throughout the larger SAWS system.
At the meeting, the SAWS board also approved two construction contracts adding up to $81.8 million for work on facilities related to Vista Ridge.
Next year, SAWS must continue intensive work upgrading its sewer system as part of a 10-year, nearly $1.1 billion consent decree with the federal government.
SAWS entered into the consent decree in 2013 after officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice cracked down on the utility because of repeated spills and leaks of raw sewage from its system. Houston is now facing a similar fate.
This year, SAWS submitted two reports to the EPA assessing whether each of its sewer pipes has enough space and is in good enough condition to prevent spills and leaks.
Though the utility has for years been replacing and upgrading sewer pipes and eliminating lift stations that can cause sewage backups, the pace of that work will peak in 2019, according to SAWS’ sewer website.
“We’re really meeting the most capital-intensive portion of the consent decree,” Evanson told the SAWS board.
SAWS is also budgeting for increased personnel costs in 2019, including a proposal to increase the utility’s minimum hourly wage from $14.50 to $15.25, a 5.2 percent change that would affect 180 employees.
Other SAWS employees, such as entry-level customer service representatives, laborers, and utility technicians, are projected to get 3 percent raises next year. SAWS is also planning for an additional $2.2 million in medical and life insurance benefits.
Utility officials also plan to spend more than $5 million on technological improvements, including $2.6 million for a pilot program to replace analog water meters with digital meters.
In 2020, SAWS officials are planning for a more substantial bill increases that would would take average monthly bills to $76.38. That would involve an increase to the water supply fee approved by City Council in 2015. SAWS is not planning on seeking water delivery or sewer fee increases in 2020, Vice President of Communications and External Affairs Gavino Ramos confirmed.
One rate increase after another, just another reason to vote yes.
SAWS sure has friends on our City Council… With this council and that most recent one, everyone’s water bills continue to go increasely higher while the
President of SAWS enjoyed a nice healthy raise . Enough said !
The increases are exactly the same as planned last year – they’re not one penny lower. SAWS is simply playing silly math tricks again – badly. Last year’s request for 5.8% and 4.7% “bill impacts” explicitly stated “before EAA and TCEQ pass through fees.”
Using SAWS’ numbers, the SAWS portion of the ‘average’ bill in 2018 went up $3.45 from $59.44 to $62.89; or 3.45/59.44 = 5.8%.
The 2019 increases raise the SAWS portion of the bill up $2.94 from $62.89 to $65.83; or 2.94/62.89 = 4.7%.
But now SAWS is calculating the percentage AFTER the fees because it’s a larger denominator, so it makes the increase LOOK smaller. The SAWS part of the bill increase is exactly the same, or $2.94.
The exact-same-as-before 2019 $2.94 SAWS increase divided by the now larger $65.69 = 4.47%. I’d round that number up to 4.5% not down to 4.4%, but then again, I’m not SAWS.
And that, voters, is why you need to vote YES on Prop A because you will never, ever, get a straight answer from SAWS about their rate increases.
[P.S. The online rate calculator from SAWS is wrong (a few times!) and it also yields different numbers than the SAWS CFO. SAWS didn’t increase the 2019 CoSA stormwater fees, so it understates the 2019 bill totals. And the CFO didn’t catch that the passthrough fees dropped by $0.03 in 2018, so his numbers are still wrong – to SAWS benefit, naturally. SAWS’ 2019 bill increase of $2.94 is reduced to an overall increase of $2.91 (excluding the unanimously-approved-by Council stormwater increase, obviously). The after-passthrough total for 2018 is $65.66 (excluding the CoSA stormwater fee), not $65.69 like he claimed. But if you use his erroneous higher number for 2018, you get 4.43% for 2019’s increase ($2.91/65.69 = 4.43); so he’s not really lying, he’s just, well, wrong. But he is a highly paid CFO! Wouldn’t it just be easier if they said what the real rate increases were, instead of all of these gyrations?]
[P.P.S Don’t even get me started on the bill comparison between cities…you don’t want to know.]
Thanks for doing the work others should be doing including city council and reporters.
Didn’t the “leadership” of SAWS foresee the need for sewer infrastructure improvements years ago? Probably not as the executives took their “earnings” and ignored the day to day operations of the entity. What are the proposed raises for the executives at SAWS?
The Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction Program (SSORP) aka the “Consent Decree” is actually up to $1.492 billion, not the cited $1.1 billion. The $400 million (~40%) increase is noted in last year’s CoSA analysis of the rate increases, page 5. Look it up, I did. “Preliminary estimates of the cost of such additional capital expenditures are approximately $400 million, bringing…the total SSORP estimated costs to $1.492 billion.”
SAWS likes to say “over $1.1 Bn.” That way the information isn’t wrong, per se; it’s just ‘outdated.’
People should look at their cell phone or cable bills before griping about water and sewer rates. Safe water and good sewer systems are what separates us from third world countries. Water and sewer rates are very low compared to the value they add to our lives.
Dilly! Dilly! I checked out those books concerning WATER that I read about in SAEN. General Public too busy complaining about high water/sewer bills.
Be thankful our arid region has another source of water and local water/municipal leaders demonstrate vision to plan for long term. I do not want to be around when long duration drought occurs- my children/grandchildren, well, this is your responsibility.