San Antonio City Council will vote on a new plan to increase rates for the San Antonio Water System next week.
Council members got to discuss the new proposal on Wednesday. It was the first time SAWS had presented to City Council since the panel pushed back against a rate increase proposal in a 6-5 vote in June.
The utility says it needs to raise rates to pay for a range of essential infrastructure improvements over the next five years. After council members rejected its initial rate proposal, which would have bumped up the average monthly bill by more than $3 starting in July, SAWS cut $594 million from its capital plan, trimming it down to $2.6 billion, and put together a rate increase plan for 2027-2030.
That includes monthly increases of $3.91 in 2027 and $3.94 in 2028 for the average residential bill.
Utility officials presented further tweaks to the plan on Wednesday. Increases in 2029 and 2030 are not set in the same way, they fall within a range.
On Wednesday, SAWS told council members it had lowered the bottom of that range. For the average monthly residential bill, the minimum moved from $3.55 to $2.90 in 2029 and from $3.40 to $2.70 in 2030.
That means the overall changes to customers’ bills by 2030 could be lower than previously expected. The average monthly residential bill is projected to grow by between $16.93 and $13.45 between now and 2030.
Cecilia Velasquez, SAWS’ chief financial officer, said the City of San Antonio’s Public Utilities office would review the rate change every year and approve final numbers based on evidence presented by SAWS.
If SAWS goes over the maximum in 2029 or 2030, City Council would have to vote again on rate changes.
Velasquez said SAWS would “probably not” stay at the minimum.
“Based on the current [Capital Improvements Plan], the capital programs and the projects that we have within them, the costs are probably not going to go down. So we would assume that we’re going to be within that range. We’re not going to stay [at] that minimum,” Velasquez said. “We have to justify it, we must support going higher than those minimums to the [city’s] Public Utilities office.”
When council members voted down the rate increase proposal in June, several cited trust issues with SAWS CEO Robert Puente and with how SAWS managed its construction projects.
On Wednesday, Puente said he’d taken time to meet with council members individually since that June vote, and council members acknowledged his efforts, even if they weren’t voicing explicit support for increasing rates.
“I appreciate continued dialog with you, Robert, and your team and members of the board. And I guess we’ll see where we land next week,” said Councilman Marc Whyte (D10). Whyte voted against the rate increase in June.
Puente presented other steps SAWS was taking to meet concerns and needs presented by council members. SAWS was not increasing rates in its Uplift Program, which offers lower rates for low-income residents.
The program is expanding to include residents who make up to 150% of the federal poverty level — $23,940 for a one-person household or $49,500 for a family of four. That could double its enrollment. SAWS officials are also working on a 180-day pilot program that would automatically enroll residents, rather than asking them to apply.
Some who voted against SAWS’ rate increase in June, like Councilman Edward Mungia (D4) and Sukh Kaur (D1), still had demands for the utility. On Wednesday, Mungia asked if SAWS was going to extend its Uplift Program to renters and update its oversizing and impact fee policy for developers who want to connect to the water system.
Kaur asked about impact fee studies and a list of delayed projects. Utility officials said they were working through proposals for those issues.
Council members from both sides of the June vote were pleased that SAWS had reduced its capital plan while still prioritizing its most pressing issues, including 77 miles of water main replacements.
“It is imperative that the council knows and that our community knows that the seven highest priority projects were left in the plan and in the time frame in which we brought them to you in June,” Puente said. “It was projects that were less than those seven that we are going to phase into other years or postpone entirely.”
SAWS’ board of directors will meet on Oct. 6 and hold a public hearing for the rate plan at their headquarters off of U.S. Highway 281. City council will meet again on Oct. 8 to vote on the rate increase.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.
