Brace your wallets, Austinites. If you thought your water bill was drying up your funds before, get ready for a potential surge. Austin Water is pushing for a rate increase that could spike the average residential water and wastewater bill by 9.5 percent—taking it from about $85 to $93.12 a month, based on average consumption numbers. This jump is riding the wave of an increase just last year when bills went up by 3.3 percent. The reason, as reported by The Austin Monitor, is a mix of escalating costs for necessary water treatment chemicals, staff payrolls, and the repair of aging infrastructure.
Austin's growth spurt is demanding more from the water department, with plans to expand the Walnut Creek Treatment Plant's capacity from 75 million to a full 100 million gallons per day. But this isn't the lone improvement on the books; upgrades to the system's flood resilience and treatment systems are also in line. For those consuming more water, there's a change coming to fixed fees too. As per the data provided, customers using between 11,000 and 20,000 gallons will see the fixed fees drop, while the thirstiest users, those over 20,000 gallons, can expect a hike in their fixed fees.
The proposed increases won't be isolated to households alone. Commercial entities are set to bear a substantial part of the burden with a whopping 22.7 percent rate increase—meaning businesses like Cypress Manufacturing, NXP, Samsung, Tesla, and the University of Texas will see heftier bills, ranging from 11.4 to 18.2 percent. And for Austin residents tucked in multifamily housing complexes, a sharp increase of approximately 16.8 percent looms overhead, according to The Austin Monitor.
The proposal projects their bills to jump by 20 percent, nudging the average monthly cost closer to $47.53. That's near an $8 rise from what they're currently shelling out. All of these proposals will be under the microscope during the Council's budget talks, earmarked for a final vote come August. Meanwhile, Austin Water officials are rolling up their sleeves, set to discuss more details with the city’s Water and Wastewater Commission in the coming week. For those looking to dive deeper into the proposed changes, the SpeakUp Austin website is streaming a selection of detailed presentations available for public viewing.
