Baltimore Rate Hikes May Hit Hard For Poor

Baltimore city leaders approved an aggressive rate hike last month, and critics say the shift will present a major burden on the city’s many low-income residents.

“Baltimore residents will pay about 33 percent more for water and be charged two new fees under a three-year plan to help pay for repairs to the city's crumbling infrastructure and fix an error-prone water billing system,” The Baltimore Sun reported.

“The Baltimore Board of Estimates voted 3-2 to hike the water rate by an average of 9.9 percent annually and sewer rates 9 percent a year through fiscal year 2019,” The Associated Press reported.

As The Huffington Post put it: “The price of water in one of America’s poorest large cities is about to skyrocket.” The Department of Public Works said that the water bill for the average family will eventually go up by about $170 per year under this plan. City auditors say the plan is “reasonable,” the Sun reported.

Critics say the plan will present major challenges to low-income residents. At a public meeting devoted to rate hikes, a dozen people spoke out against the policy change, according to the Sun.

“Residents and advocacy groups opposed to the rate hike largely agree that Washington deserves the blame for the matter, but also argue Baltimore’s new rate structure will disproportionately impact low-income and senior residents who are already struggling to pay their bill,” The Huffington Post reported.

Baltimore resident Alexis Schofield spoke out against the rate hikes. "I simply cannot afford to pay an additional $50 a month," she said, per the report. "The way it is now, you write out your bills and barely have enough to pay for yourself to eat."

Like Detroit, Baltimore has fielded criticism for its water shutoff practices targeting delinquent ratepayers.

Along with rate hikes, the city is making other adjustments to its billing practices.

“Other changes to the bill include the move from quarterly billing to monthly billing, the elimination of minimum billing — meaning no homeowner will have to pay a predetermined amount of money, and an easier to read bill so that customers can see a more in-depth breakdown of their charges,” the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

To read more about water rates visit Water Online’s Funding Solutions Center.