KC water, sewer rates continue to rise

William Ingram of south Kansas City does a slow burn whenever he opens his water bill.

A single person living on Social Security, he says he uses very little water but he’s seen his bills grow from about $35 per month a few years ago to $60 or more per month now.

“To afford these prices for utilities, it’s outrageous,” he said Thursday.

Unfortunately for Ingram and other residents, relief from high water and sewer charges isn’t on the horizon. In fact, the Kansas City Council on Thursday unanimously approved another 3 percent increase in water charges and a 13 percent increase in sewer charges, effective May 1.

With these new rates, the average household residential water/sewer/stormwater bill is expected to rise from about $102 per month to $110 per month. That’s up from an average of $65 per month in 2011-12.

The money is needed to continue dealing with a massive problem of old and crumbling water and wastewater infrastructure.

Councilwoman Teresa Loar took no pleasure in voting to raise the rates.

“The Number 1 call I get in my office are these water bills and how extremely high they are,” she told KC Water Services director Terry Leeds at the meeting, adding that complaints come not just from the indigent but from more affluent households.

She asked Leeds what he’s doing to try to provide some relief. He said he’s certainly sympathetic to the rate increase fatigue, but he didn’t have an easy answer.

“We are no longer a low-dollar utility,” Leeds said, although he noted that average water bills are still often lower than monthly electric, cable TV and cell phone charges. “We have as a society undervalued water.”

Leeds and other water officials say that after decades of artificially low rates and poor infrastructure maintenance, they are making up for lost time and pouring millions of dollars into new water and sewer pipes.

Next fiscal year, Leeds said, the department expects to spend more than $100 million on water infrastructure upgrades, including 28 miles of water main replacements, and $200 million on sewer improvements.

Water rates are rising at a rate just slightly higher than inflation.

But sewer rates have skyrocketed in recent years, and are expected to keep rising by 13 percent annually until 2022. That’s in large part because the city is five years into a 25-year federal consent decree to implement more than $2 billion in sewer upgrades and alleviate pollution into its rivers and streams.

Loar asked whether the city could extend that plan even further into the future, thus spreading out rate increases more slowly. Leeds said those conversations are starting, and new negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency could begin in a few years.

He said the mayor has also appointed a new task force, which will hold its first meeting later this month, to look at how Kansas City can afford these ongoing improvements and to consider possible rate relief or solutions.

Pat Clarke, head of Kansas City’s Oak Park Neighborhood Association, said he well understands the need to raise money to repair antiquated pipes underground.

“It’s going to have to happen now or later,” he said, although he’s still frustrated about today’s rate payers having to absorb that enormous cost.

He often gets an earful from his neighbors about the city’s rising water and sewer charges.

“It’s been a very big increase,” Clarke said Thursday. “It’s a challenge. You’ve got people on fixed incomes.”

Ever since five grandchildren moved in with him and his wife last December, Clarke has been especially aware of the water usage, and he’s constantly urging the youngsters to limit their time in the shower.

“Even the drips are hurting us,” he said.

Of course, KC Water Services is not alone in raising rates. Rate increases are also happening with Missouri American Water and other area utilities, including in Johnson County. But a comparison of metro area combined water and sewer charges shows Kansas City’s with the highest ranking as of May 1, because of its big sewer rate increases.

The Kansas City water department recognizes that monthly bills can become quite a burden for some people.

To that end, beginning in 2009, the department developed and funded a customer assistance program. People who meet income eligibility requirements can seek help through a partnership with the Mid-America Assistance Coalition.

The department has provided $2 million in funds since 2009, helping more than 5,700 customers. In 2015, the fund distributed $251,000 to about 850 clients, averaging $295 per client. The department will continue the program in the next fiscal year, providing an amount not to exceed $325,000.

More information about the assistance program is available from the United Way 2-1-1 hotline or at 816-474-5112.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "KC water, sewer rates continue to rise."