City Council on Thursday approved a San Antonio Water System rate increase that would increase customers’ bills by roughly 29% over its four-year duration.
Council voted 8-3 to approve the hike, but revised it at the last minute to lower the ceiling for its final two years. Members Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Misty Spears and Marc Whyte voted against the increase, which will take effect Jan. 1.
The change would increase the average residential customer’s bill from $56.68 a month to $73.22 a month by 2030, according to the city-owned utility’s own figures.
SAWS officials maintain the rate increase is needed to cover the cost of maintaining and upgrading its infrastructure. The utility, which put off significant amounts of maintenance work to avoid raising rates, lost 16.5 billion gallons of water last year due to faulty pipes and leaks.
However, Thursday’s vote comes less than a month after City Council approved a 3.9% residential property tax increase — the city’s first in more than three decades. That decision came as the city faced a $158 million budget deficit.
Early this summer, council voted to push back back its discussion on SAWS’s proposed increase until October, saying they wanted a more detailed understanding of the utility’s finances and infrastructure issues.
The SAWS rate increase won’t affect customers enrolled in Uplift, an affordability program SAWS offers lower-income customers.
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