Many Houston residents’ water bills are getting more and more expensive, and water bills will continue to rise in the next few years.
After postponing the issue for a week to allow further community participation and feedback, the Houston City Council voted on Wednesday to increase the city’s rate of providing water and sewage services to residential customers. Mayor Sylvester Turner called the rate hike necessary. He said the city must upgrade its aging infrastructure while also complying with a consent order from the state and federal governments. The decree requires Houston to make a $2 billion improvement to its wastewater system in the next period of time. 15 years.
The measure was passed by a 12-4 vote. Abbie Kamin from District C and Karla Cisneros from District H supported it. Amy Peck from District A voted against it. It has been revised and will take effect on September 1 instead of the originally planned July 1. If other sources of infrastructure funding are available, the city council can also choose to lower the rate at some point in the future.
For example, under the new rate, a customer who uses 3,000 gallons per month will have a monthly bill increase of $4.07. In the next four years, this rate will continue to increase, compared with this year, the rate in 2026 will increase by 78%.
According to information provided by the city government, customers who use more than 3,000 gallons per month should see a 55-62% increase in the same five-year period.
The last time the City Council approved an increase in water and wastewater rates was in 2010. The decree passed at that time also included annual incremental price increases, the most recent of which took effect on April 1.
In a separate but related initiative earlier this year, the City Council approved an increase in developer impact fees for multi-family residential and commercial developers. The money is also earmarked for improving water supply and sewage infrastructure. From July 1st, the water impact fee will increase from USD 790.55 per service unit to USD 1,618.11, and the waste water fee will increase from USD 1,199.11 per service unit to USD 1,621.63.
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Post time: Aug-30-2021