EPWU proposes alternative to rate hike
The city passed a nonresidential water rate increase as part of its 2015 budget. That rate hike is moving forward, but El Paso Water Utilities has proposed a counter offer.
The rate increase would hike fees about $16 a month for schools, churches and businesses of any size for water service. But EPWU and the Public Service Board says it has another way to keep the budget balanced without increasing rates.
The water utility’s proposal would absorb the costs of road re-construction over existing water utility projects to keep them off the city’s books, and eliminate the budget need for a rate increase.
The city’s $16 a month water rate increase was voted in as part of the budget to address a $3.5 million gap between revenue and expenses in the general fund. The water utility now says that it can handle the road re-construction over some current utility projects, removing the cost of about $3.5 million in such projects from the budget.
Dr. Michiel Noe, who took a leading role in the discussion that lead to the rate increase plan, says it may not be possible in the first place.
“I do have concerns on that, because the PSB is an autonomous sort of entity. And so, are we able to tell them, because they are in a way a part of the city, how to charge their customers? Or can we tell them simply here’s the fee you’re going to incur, and they have the ability to decide how to charge their customers, collect it from their customers. At this point, I’ve asked this question, but I haven’t had it answered yet. People are looking into it.”
The discussion of the proposal was deleted from the agenda during Tuesday’s council meeting, and the PSB says it will have to move forward with the rate increase but doesn’t plan to abandon the alternate proposal either.
