Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 22
A typical single family home in the city consumes an average 70,000 gallons of water per year.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, that adds up to just under $1,100 water and sewer bills, yearly. But if a proposed 8.5% increase is approved, that bill could increase by a little under $100 annually.
“I no like, but what are you going to do?” said Queens homeowner Mario Ianirro. “You gotta pay it. That’s New York.”
Aside from normal inflation and other related price increases, the biggest reason for the hike is due to what is called a “rental payment.”
Mayor Eric Adams and his administration have the right to request rent for use of the city’s water system by the Water Board.
The New York City Water Board leases the water and sewer systems from the city. It sets water charges and uses the revenue to fund the systems, which are managed by the Department of Environmental Protection.
The city has request more than $1.3 billion worth of rental payments to be paid by the Water Board to the city from 2024 to 2028.
DEP has proposed the Water Board raise rates as early as July to help generate the requested rent.
At budget hearings last week, the proposal was criticized as a hidden tax.
The potential 8.5% increase would be the largest increase in nearly 15 years.
Rental payments from the Water Board to the city were suspended during the de Blasio administration, but the Adams’s administration is now reviving them.
Property owners in the city said it’s just another rising bill they have to deal with.
The Water Board has to vote on the potential increases by the end of next month, but is hosting public hearings ahead of that vote.
In a statement, a City Hall spokesperson said, in part, “New York City continues to keep water rates low, with New Yorkers paying less than the average American living in a large metro area for exceptional water quality and delivery.”
Source: Spectrum
