The San Antonio Water System board of trustees on Tuesday unanimously approved a 5.8 percent rate increase for the coming year, along with a $781.8 million operating budget.
Average residential water bills in 2018 will rise to around $65.69, a $3.45 increase from this year’s average of $62.24. In 2019, bills will increase by 4.7 percent to an average of $68.63.
SAWS officials emphasized during the board meeting that the rate increase, which City Council will vote on Thursday, collects funds to address necessary infrastructure maintenance.
When the budget was presented to the board in September, officials said a portion of the 2018 dollars would go toward the $1.1 billion needed to make parts of the city’s sewer system compliant with Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The proposed budget allocates nearly $339 million for operations and maintenance.
“I wish we hadn’t needed to raise rates, [but] I also can honestly say I believe we have minimized our rate request to the maximum extent possible,” said Doug Evanson, SAWS chief financial officer and senior vice president.
If approved on Thursday, the rate increase would take effect in January 2018 and be reflected on bills starting in February. SAWS’ 2018 rates are lower than those projected in other major Texas cities, such as Fort Worth ($71.57), Houston ($89.30), and Austin reach ($112.47). The average water bill in Dallas in 2017 was around $61.76.
Two citizens spoke against the rate increase during Tuesday’s meeting. Terry Burns, a local Sierra Club representative, said the rate increase is unnecessary and unfair to low-income residents.
“SAWS already has supplies [that are] more than double the demand, and its own prediction for 2070 show average supplies of almost 140,000 acre feet above demand,” Burns said. “These data are based on highly aggressive population growth predictions that verge on fantasy, and gross wishful thinking of chamber types seeking profit from endless growth.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he supports the rate increase, citing the importance of investing in the city’s infrastructure so that the next generation of San Antonians has solid water delivery systems.
“We don’t want to continue to kick this can down the road and ask you for a 20 percent rate increase just because we failed to replace the pipes at a reasonable rate,” Nirenberg said. “We at some point have to face the reality that we have to maintain the system we’ve got.”
What were the actual rates? Were they what SAWS appeared to brief the public, or were they actually higher? Answer: they were higher. SAWS put 3.2% on a slide to undersell the impact. Reality is 9.7% for water delivery.
San Antonio’s “rates” are comparatively low, but its FEES are the highest in Texas. The combination of low rates but high fixed fees means San Antonio has higher actual water bills for 58% of its customers than comparison cities.
The problem is that SAWS uses a single metric – one user at 7,092 gallons to claim “lower bills.” Ask SAWS how bills compare at 0, 3000, and 6000 gallons. Ask SAWS where the bulk of its users are.
Your meter connection – a fixed fee – went up 69% since 2015: from $7.57 to $12.77. 69% increase from what was already the highest in the 2015 Water Policy report. Look it up.
Circle of Blue, a water trade association, reported that in 2016 San Antonio had the highest water usage and the highest water bills of the major Texas cities surveyed. Higher than Houston, Ft. Worth and even higher than – gasp – Austin! These are water bills, not water rates. Look it up.
And Mayor Ron, for the record, SAWS is going to hit ratepayers with a 49% rate increase for Water Supply in 2020. Do the math, look it up.
Also – why does the media persist in repeating SAWS erroneous statement about the “bill” being $65.69?
It’s not. If you were a (fictional) average user with the least impervious cover, your “bill” – the check you write, the blue numbers in the box on your actual bill, would be $70.43. Use SAWS rate calculator. 7,092 and 5,668, 5/8″ connection – look it up.
$65.69 is only SAWS part of the bill, plus EAA and TCEQ fees. It’s not “just” SAWS part, but it’s also not the total. Look it up. It’s on SAWS facebook page, they say that’s not the “real” bill.