PHOTO: The DEP has proposed a 2.1 percent increase in the Fiscal Year 2017 water rate to the city Water Board. Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
By Michael V. Cusenza
The Department of Environmental Protection last Friday proposed a 2.1 percent increase in the Fiscal Year 2017 water rate to the city Water Board, representing the lowest increase in 16 years, according to the agency.
Factors that allowed DEP to slow the growth in the proposed rate, while ensuring funds are available to advance all major programs on schedule in FY 17, include internal cost controls, interest rate savings, and the Administration’s ongoing reduction of the rental payment.
The proposal also includes affordability programs for low-income homeowners and multi-family housing properties that are expected to benefit as many as 120,000 customers and 40,000 units, respectively. In addition, the proposal recommends freezing the minimum charge at $1.27 per day for the third consecutive year for the more than 150,000 customers who use fewer than 100 gallons per day, which a quarter of all single-family homeowners do, many of them seniors, the department noted.
If the 2.1 percent water rate increase is adopted by the Board:
A typical single-family homeowner will see an increase from $1,055 per year to $1,078 per year for water and sewer bills – an increase of just $1.85 a month (based on an average consumption of 80,000 gallons of water per year.)
A typical multi-family unit with metered billing will see an increase from $686 per year per unit to $700 per year per unit – an increase of $1.20 a month (based on an average consumption of 52,000 gallons of water per year.)
“By implementing effective cost controls, refinancing higher interest debt, and reducing the rental payment, we are able to fully fund the City’s critical drinking water and wastewater systems while delivering the lowest rate increase in sixteen years,” said DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd. “In addition, we are extending savings to as many as 120,000 low-income, senior, and disabled customers, as well as providing bill credits to keep up to 40,000 multi-family housing units affordable.”
According to the agency, the proposed hike, in part, ensures funds will be available to advance all drinking water and wastewater capital projects on schedule, including: new clean-burning cogeneration engines for the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant; site acquisition and engineering for the shafts to service the Brooklyn/Queens leg of City Water Tunnel No. 3; rehabilitation of the dam at Ashokan Reservoir; Gowanus Canal Combined Sewer Overflow Retention Tanks; construction of new sewers and water mains in all five boroughs.
“It’s important that we secure funding to maintain the infrastructure for our water system, while not wringing our families dry in the process,” said Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach). “By proposing the lowest water rate increase in sixteen years and freezing minimum usage charges, the city has done just that. I applaud the Water Board and the Department of Environmental Protection for committing to sensible rate increases that will ensure all New York families continue to have affordable, reliable utilities for years to come.”
The Board has scheduled five public hearings – one for each borough – for the upcoming FY17 water rate proposal. In Queens it’s scheduled for Monday, May 9 at 7 p.m. at Christ the King Regional High School, CLN Center, 68-02 Metropolitan Ave., Middle Village, NY 11379.
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
