PWSA to raise rates 60% over 3 years (Pittsburgh, Harrisburg: school, incomes, maintenance)

[tyovan4]

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has filed a request with state regulators to raise rates by nearly 60% over the next three years in order to continue funding its infrastructure improvement plans.

If approved as is, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer would increase by about 20% in 2024 (from $86.43 to $103.41). In 2025, the bill would jump nearly 20% again to $123.55. And the following year, it would rise to $146.12, or by 18%.

https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202305090120

Good Lord.. I'm surprised that this isnt getting more media attention. This is a major increase for many people.

[szug-bot]

but this was coming, since at least 2018, i believe.

there was FINALLY serious consideration maybe starting a few years prior to that about the aging system. i attended a 'charette', i believe it was called, which was a brainstorming & information series of afternoons.

you could hear a pin drop when yours truly suggested that the cost of maintenance/operation will and should be passed on to water users, especially those who own large areas converted to hardscape (like all those driveways that were yards at one time). people at the charette must have thought i was an idiot.

whether that is fair or not is a more complicated discussion - but fast forward to 2022, and now rates can be determined from the amount of impervious area on a property. the warning of rate hikes was not big news, but WAS brought to light around 2019 or so....i think Channel 11 did a brief story on it.

that is just not sexy news for a violence/sex/racist/manic country like this. but no, im not surprised, but expecting the 'stuff' to hit the fan in the near future.

but thank you for starting this thread...this is a topic we NEED to know about, to discuss, and observe!

[North Beach Person]

You're going to see this everywhere over the next several years. EPA has been steadily issuing new regulations for both water and sewer for a couple decades now.

One stupid example is the concentration of arsenic amounts imposed several years ago. The standard was lower than what is found naturally in most water supplies. It was eventually reset but a lot of water systems had started to change their treatment procedures to deal with the new standard.

We had to upgrade our sewer plant to meet the new ENR (Enhanced Nutrient Removal) standards over the last ten years or so. When the shouting was done the actual cost was three times the original estimates. That's coming to you guys soon if it hasn't already.

[SteelCityRising]

Oh well. While I'm normally NOT ageist in this case I will blame the Boomers. Instead of accepting/stomaching NOMINAL rate increase EVERY YEAR for decades so we could currently have adequate utility infrastructure they kept whining about any and all rate increases year after year and kicking that can of deferred maintenance down the road for future generations to endure swiftly and harshly. Same for tax increases. I have lived in Pittsburgh since 2010, and our taxes have barely risen. The income tax has stayed the same. Property taxes have only increased when voters self-imposed them via referendum (i.e. library tax, parks tax, etc.)

Now it's time to pay the piper, and I have no empathy for any Boomers "on fixed incomes" who are going to be in dire straits NOW because they refused to skip a pack of smokes a month or a cup of Starbucks a month here and there years ago to stomach acceptable/normal rate and tax increases over the decades.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

You're going to see this everywhere over the next several years. EPA has been steadily issuing new regulations for both water and sewer for a couple decades now.

One stupid example is the concentration of arsenic amounts imposed several years ago. The standard was lower than what is found naturally in most water supplies. It was eventually reset but a lot of water systems had started to change their treatment procedures to deal with the new standard.

We had to upgrade our sewer plant to meet the new ENR (Enhanced Nutrient Removal) standards over the last ten years or so. When the shouting was done the actual cost was three times the original estimates. That's coming to you guys soon if it hasn't already.

Good. As someone who picks up MOUNTAINS of litter and illegal dumping on a weekly basis just in one small part of our city I am glad everyone is now going to have to share in the cost of environmental remediation. Our city is disgustingly polluted, and if people didn't want things to get this dire now they should have acted years ago when costs would not have been so exorbitant.

[Knepper3]

Honestly this is a reason we'll be moving out of county sometime in the next 1-2 years. Utility costs are very high overall plus property taxes, with my kids long out of school there is no reason to keep paying those costs.

[Reggiezz]

Are they actually making improvements? Several cities in the last 10 years ran fake projects they collect or borrow money for. Harrisburg and Birmingham, AL come to mind. It was all fraud there.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Reggiezz

Are they actually making improvements? Several cities in the last 10 years ran fake projects they collect or borrow money for. Harrisburg and Birmingham, AL come to mind. It was all fraud there.

They have definitely been replacing all the lead service lines city-wide and are relining the sewers. They have been working on Marshall-Shadeland for sure and are starting Brighton Heights soon. I know ALCOSAN is currently acquiring property to increase its subterranean sewers in terms of size/capacity so there will be no more raw sewage flowing into our rivers during heavy downpours.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by Reggiezz

Are they actually making improvements? Several cities in the last 10 years ran fake projects they collect or borrow money for. Harrisburg and Birmingham, AL come to mind. It was all fraud there.

yes, there is a long term plan, and the water authority, after internal instability for a few years (i think their leader position was actually unfilled for something like 3 whole years) is running itself better and moving forward with upgrading the entire system.

remember the bus that fell into the street? that was due to a leaking pipe that is owned by the property owner at Penn and 10th. that is the last i heard about this, and i wonder if they were held accountable in any way, shape or form, or if the taxpayer again was screwed up the jitzy.

[Reggiezz]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

Honestly this is a reason we'll be moving out of county sometime in the next 1-2 years. Utility costs are very high overall plus property taxes, with my kids long out of school there is no reason to keep paying those costs.

It's getting to be that time.