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The San Antonio Water System board of trustees on Tuesday voted to move forward on a four-year plan to raise customer rates to replace and expand existing infrastructure to meet future water demand.
The plan would increase monthly water bills a little more than $4 each month over the next four years, meaning monthly water bills will be about $19 more in 2030.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones sits on the board and said it's time to act to protect public health and safety and avoid violations from regulators.
"I want to make sure that we sufficiently emphasize for the public the cost of these violations. So, not only are you confronted by violations, (but) you're dealing with the issue that caused the violations."
The mayor has said that in the U.S. only New York and Los Angeles, have more water pipeline miles than the Alamo City to maintain. And the city continues to see rapid population growth. The World Population Review has projected San Antonio/s population has surpassed Philadelphia to become the sixth largest city in the country.
The city's Public Utilities Group is scheduled to review the rate hike plan on June 3 and present its recommendation to the full city council.
The city council has the final vote on the proposed rate hike plan on June 11. If approved, water bills as early as July 1 or soon after will see the monthly increase.
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte, during the May 7 council meeting, urged his fellow councilmembers to remember the average take-home pay of San Antonians and what they pay for groceries.
"I'm concerned about piling onto our residents, yet again, with additional costs to help our city government run," he said. "And yes, I'm including SAWS, CPS Energy, and what we do here. It's all one city to the residents of San Antonio and this is a significant increase in costs if this plan were to go through."
SAWS has said low-income residents with lower rates enrolled in its SAWS Uplift programs would not see rate increases.
"We've got to look at everything with a fine-tooth comb," Whyte added.
