For the second year in a row, utility rates for the Metropolitan Sewer District will increase by 3%.
On Thursday, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the increase to meet MSD's revenue requirements to maintain its current services and fund projects.
The sewer district website says those projects will improve and build new pump stations and power generators.
Last year, the commission approved a similar 3% rate increase that cost the average household an extra $18 a year.
Get caught up: Local sewer rates will likely go up next year
The commission voted 2-1 to approve the rate hike. Commission President Alicia Reece was the only one to vote against the increase this year and last year. While the rate increase is relatively small, Reece says she won't vote to approve of any increase at the moment because of the financial strain it will put on customers.
"It's 3% this year, and 3% next year, and 3% next year. You know, people just can't afford it," Reece said. "I'm going to hold out and see if this economy turns around."
After the increase was approved, County Administrator Jeff Alluotto said the sewer district worked with the county to develop a budget that would limit the rate increase as much as possible.
"The MSD team and the county team worked creatively to figure out ways to pull back in some areas, in ways that have real rate impacts as well, so the increase the board wound up passing was actually less than it may have been," Alluotto said.
MSD offers a customer assistance program that allows low-income seniors to pay at a lower rate, but Reece says the sewer district assistance program doesn't offer a similar deal for those who don't meet those specific requirements.
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"[The] middle class is getting whipped up because there's nothing. You can't get a break. You either got to be super poor or super rich. The people in the middle that got to pay everything on time and on the dime, we don't have nothing for them and they're saying they're struggling. It's not just MSD by itself. It's everything going up, up, up checks are going down, down, down," Reece said.
The new rate increase will go into effect starting January 2024.
