Phoenix plans public hearing on proposed water rate increase

Phoenix residents can weigh in Thursday on a proposal to hike water rates by 6.5% over two years.

The proposal comes on the heels of 6% increases in 2019 and 2020.

The Phoenix City Council will vote next month on a rate plan to fund the renovation of water pipes and other aging infrastructure in Phoenix.

The rate increase would fund a $1.7 billion capital improvement program to update the pipes across the city, which see about 4,000 waterline breaks each year.

Most of the city’s pipes were installed in the middle of the last century, according to Assistant Water Services Director Troy Hayes.

“We have over 7,000 miles of pipe spread all over 540 square miles,” Hayes said, adding that the average lifespan of a pipe is 75 years. “This is a problem that the Phoenix area is going to have to deal with over the next 30 years or so.”

Hayes said the city should act now to avoid steep fees in the future.

“We know that if we continually do invest in the infrastructure and we continue to maintain our system that it keeps the cost down,” Hayes said. “It’s about four times the cost when we have an issue that is unexpected versus when it’s planned.”

If the council approves the rate increase in March, residents could see changes to their water bills beginning in October, according to interim Water Services Director Eric Frober.

3 rate increase options

The Water Services Department has proposed three options to increase the water rate over the next two years.

In the first of those options, Phoenix residents would see a 3% increase in 2021 and a 3.5% increase in 2022. The increase would amount to an additional $2.40 per month, or 8 cents per day, for the average household.

The Water/Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee, commissioned by the council to oversee the capital improvement program, recommended this plan.

The Water Services Department has proposed a second plan in which residents’ water bills would not be affected in 2022 but would see a 6.5% increase in 2022.

This plan has garnered concern due to the bill spike it would cause next year, according to Frober.

The final plan does not include a rate hike for 2021 but proposes a 3.5% increase in 2022.

In a public meeting last week, Frober indicated the final option of just a 3.5% increase would not be sufficient to fund the needed infrastructure upgrades.

“We would go from a very proactive approach … to a very reactive,” he said in reference to the third proposal.

Residents have seen steadily higher rates

The City Council last approved a water rate increase of 6% in 2019 and 6% in 2020.

Along with the proposed 6.5% increase over the next two years, the Water Services Department predicts that rates would again need to increase by 3.5% for three consecutive years beginning in 2023.

“If you don’t invest in the infrastructure, there’s a high potential that you’re going to have problems,” Hayes said. “You’ll have more main breaks, you’ll have more outages and things like that.”

The current water and sewer bill for the average Phoenix resident is less than that of residents in Mesa, Glendale and Peoria. Even with the increase, Phoenix bills would still be affordable, according to Frober.

As part of pandemic relief, the city offered more than 1,700 households water bill assistance, but funding for that program has been exhausted. Additionally, qualifying criteria for utility support will change once the state of emergency has been cleared.

In normal circumstances, low-income families can apply for water bill assistance once a year through Project Assist, Frober said.