Last Chance Before Sewer Rates Likely Go Up

Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) customers (most of us in Chesterfield, commercial and residential) have a last chance Thursday morning, 9 a.m. to noon, to give an opinion on a rate hike.

The hike would help pay for $1 billion in wastewater treatment upgrades required by a lawsuit agreement over Federal clean water requirements.

The system, under overflow conditions, was prone to polluting water.

The sewer district's independent rate commission hosts its final public hearing on a proposed increase to customers before the commission gives its recommendation on the proposal to the MSD Board of Trustees during the board's Nov. 10 meeting.

The hearing is at MSD offices, 2350 Market St. in St. Louis. The price hike would impact the entire St. Louis area.

MSD officials said the sewer system needs the $1 billion for serious upgrades. Some sewers still operate that were installed before the U.S. Civil War. Customers are being asked to foot the bill to the tune of a possible 64 percent increase on their monthly bill.

The St. Louis MSD Rate Commission has been holding meetings throughout the area since August in an effort to hear resident concerns.

How much to flush?

The rate increase will take a customer's sewer tab from $28.73 to $47.05 monthly* on an average residential bill between 2012 and 2016.

Rates already jumped about $1.50 a month for 2011.

Sewer district staff is scheduled to be on hand at the meetings to go over basic facts of a 64 percent hike in sewer bills, and rate commission staff will be there taking notes.

A proposal to raise fees for storm water sewers (not waste water) is still in court on appeal by the sewer district against the State of Missouri. It's unclear how much that would cost residents.

Why the hike?

• Regulatory requirements—laws that protect clean water didn't exist in 1850, or even 1957, when the district formed

• Increased use of debt—sewer district borrowed previously

• Loss of customer base—population dropped in the district, both residential and commercial, as the 2010 Census showed.

• Declining water usage—we conserve more water (a good thing), which bites into sewer district revenue because it's billed by how much we use (so they raise the price.)

• Economic conditions—sewer district said customers are having trouble paying their bills.

*Information is drawn from the Metropolitan Sewer District website.