Springfield City Council
Press Release on Springfield Water and Sewer Commission Rate Increase
June 19, 2020
The Springfield City Council wants to inform you that the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission (SWSC) voted Wednesday morning for the 9.5% increase for their 2021 rate.
We know this is disappointing and we want you to know what the City Council did to advocate on behalf of our citizens. Please note that the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission has full responsibility for the rate. The City Council has the authority to approve the Mayor’s appointments to the Commission, but we have no control over the ultimate rate that is approved.
Let’s review the sequence of events on this topic in the past couple months.
1. The SWSC announced a 16.9% increase in their rates for 2021.
2. There was great public outcry that the proposed rate was too high, particularly in this pandemic.
3. The Springfield City Council met with the SWSC to discuss the rates and the public feedback.
4. The SWSC changed their financial projections and reduced their anticipated rate increase to 9.5%.
5. On Tuesday, June 2, a 2-hour, 20 minute public hearing was held to hear feedback directly from the public on the rates. The SWSC made a presentation at the hearing. Several City Councilors attended the meeting and spoke.
6. Councilor Ramos circulated an on-line petition for a rate freeze.
7. Councilor Allen emailed a proposal back and forth with the SWSC two times with recommendations to bring the proposed rate increase down from 9.5% - 5.5%.
8. On Tuesday, June 16, another meeting was held with the SWSC to discuss the proposals.
9. On Wednesday, June 17, the SWSC met and voted to approve the increase rate of 9.5% for 2021.
We know it is our job to represent the citizens. We advocated for a lower rate. We never doubted the work that the SWSC has to do, but we suggested different ways to fund the work rather than having so much of it being on the backs of their customers, the citizens. Nobody is disputing that the SWSC has a huge, important, and challenging job - we were just hoping that the budget could be funded differently. The SWSC took our suggestions, analyzed them, and decided to keep the 9.5% rate increase the same.
In the interest of being fully transparent with the public, we want you to know what the planned increases are for the next four years. The anticipated rate increases are as follows: 2022 (9.5%), 2023 (8.5%), 2024 (5.5%), and 2025 (4.5%). These planned increases could change.
We have committed to working with them in the future to find additional funding to help them. We hope there is federal or state funding that can assist in this cause.
Thank you for your interest. We hope we can bring those anticipated increases down in the future. We will continue to advocate for you.
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