Baltimore's water and sewer rates are expected to rise this year for the fifth time in seven years, and may increase every year for much of the next decade as the city faces the prospect of costly mandates from federal regulators, officials said yesterday.
The O'Malley administration is recommending a water rate increase of 16 percent and a sewer rate increase of 10 percent this year, which would translate into an increase of about $57 a year for the average family of four in the city, to $518. The new rates, scheduled to be voted on and approved next month, would affect about 1.8 million water users and 1.6 million users of the city sewer system in the greater Baltimore area.
The city Board of Estimates is expected to vote after a public hearing April 10 on this year's water and sewer rate increases. The rates would take effect April 11.
And more increases are certain: Sewer rates could more than double over the next decade, under force of an anticipated legal settlement being negotiated with regulators to address numerous violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The settlement, which could be reached within days, would compel sweeping improvements of the sewer system at an estimated cost of $900 million.
"This is unfortunately the state of things. It's a federal mandate," Mayor Martin O'Malley said last night. He has asked that the federal government help shoulder the cost, but he has received no promises.
"I just have to shake my head that the federal government would be so uncaring about the cost of this to the residents of the city," O'Malley said. "You see, the way this thing works, the federal government does tax cuts, the state government does tax cuts, and cities are forced to tax."
The city's nearly century-old sewers have long been troubled by overflows that have dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department, joined by state regulators, have threatened to file a lawsuit under the federal Clean Water Act unless the city agrees to fix those problems quickly.
Regulators have proposed that the city make the improvements in less than a decade, but at a meeting Feb. 15, O'Malley pleaded for more time, which would allow for smaller rate increases.
On Friday, the latest deadline from regulators, the city made a counterproposal, O'Malley said. The mayor said he hasn't heard back yet.
