San Antonio City Council is asking for more time to consider water rate increases before they vote on them.
In a narrow, 6-5 vote Thursday, city council members pushed back a decision on whether to increase water rates for the city-owned San Antonio Water System until October.
SAWS had presented a plan to increase rates by between 26.1% and 29.9% for residents and between 26.8% and 30.4% for businesses by 2029. That would have kicked off with an average monthly residential rate increase of $3.91 this year.
Council members Sukh Kaur (D1), Jalen McKee Rodriguez (D2), Edward Mungia (D4), Marina Alderete Gavito (D7), Misty Spears (D9) and Marc Whyte (D10) voted to hold off on a decision Thursday.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and council members Phyllis Viagran (D3), Teri Castillo (D5), Ric Galvan (D6) and Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (D8) voted against the delay and supported the rate increase.
Now, SAWS will have to adjust its plan and respond to council members’ concerns over the next few months, said SAWS CEO Robert Puente.
“Every year — 2027, 2028, 2029 — that rate will now go up a bit. We don’t know how much,” he said.
For the council members choosing to delay the rate increase, the decision came down to a combination of trust and proposals for change.
City council members noted SAWS existing issues with leaks and construction delays.
“I feel there are major operational inefficiencies SAWS needs to work through,” Alderete Gavito said. She has repeatedly raised concerns with water losses.
“Why is it now that our trust has wilted, that there are plans to improve?” asked McKee-Rodriguez. “Now, all of our questions are getting answered and there’s a plan to address our issues, and it’s at this point when rate increase is needed.”
Several council members noted lengthy construction delays on city projects that were due to SAWS issues with its underground infrastructure. Mungia asked for solutions to concerns from private businesses about infrastructure costs when it comes to connecting developments to the existing water system.
Several council members felt a pressing need to approve SAWS’ new rates as soon as possible, though.
“We have old infrastructure. We need to address that. And if you want equity infrastructure, it takes investment,” Viagran said.
Meza Gonzalez and Viagran also asked about a list of requests several council members had sent to Puente via email on Wednesday that they had not been included on. Kaur said she had put together the list.
City Attorney Andy Segovia said council members could not use such a list as a condition for voting on the delay but were allowed to request information from SAWS.
Puente said several projects would have to be pushed back into 2027 because of the rate change delay, including updates to a wastewater treatment plant. Those would not create any public health risks, Puente said, but the cost of the projects, and therefore the rate increase, will increase.
“Prices never go down. They always go up. So some of these projects will be more expensive. It means three more months, a quarter of the year, without the additional revenue that we were going to be counting on,” Puente said. “The rate increases that we were seeking, and we agreed to with the city, have to be relooked at and probably adjusted.”
Puente said he’ll spend the next six months trying to answer council members questions and sharing the utility’s plans and internal processes. Several council members, including McKee Rodriguez and Mungia, said they would be open to approving the rate increases in the future if their concerns are addressed.
In the meantime, City Council is considering several other cost increases that could affect San Antonio residents including a looming budget deficit — and the potential for increased property taxes.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.