Residents Not Happy About Potential Water Rate Increase

A proposal to increase water rates in Rye, Rye Brook and Port Chester drew the ire of several residents who spoke at a public hearing Thursday at Rye City Hall.

The New York State Public Service Commission, the agency that will decide whether to approve United Water Westchester's request to raise rates over the next four years, organized the hearing to allow the public to comment on a joint agreement reached in July between the three municipalities and the company.

The agreement would generate more than $4 million for United Water Westchester during the next four years, increasing each customer's water bill by more than 6 percent starting in December and by more than 5 percent each remaining year of the proposal.

Those who spoke at Thursday's hearing said the increase basically amounts to another tax that will burden residents hard hit by the economic downturn and ever-increasing local taxes.

"We are in a recession-depression," said Port Chester resident and local activist Goldie Solomon. "We Port Chester residents, citizens and taxpayers can't afford any increase in our billing."

Gene Ceccarelli, a retired New York assistant police chief and Port Chester resident, said the increase will have the largest impact on seniors, retirees and those who live on a fixed income.

"I don't know how much more people can stand until it breaks their back," he said.

Steven Goudsmith, a spokesperson for United Water Westchester, said the average customer who consumes about 22,400 gallons of water every three months will likely see a $3.70 a month increase in their bill the first year. That figure will jump to $9.59 a month in the fourth year of the agreement.

The revenue generated from the rate increases  will be partly reinvested to improve the company's infrastructure, which will include work on water mains and service and meter line replacements.

Under an agreement United Water reached with the Public Service Commission in 1998, it agreed not increase rates before August 2009. However, it was allowed to recover money from its customers for purchasing excess water.

The company said it also will use the revenue from the rate increases to reduce the amount of lost water or leakage in its system. United Water currently loses 28 percent of the water it pumps, but said it will make capital investments in its infrastructure to reduce that figure to 18 percent, a feat that County Legislator Martin Rogowsky, who spoke at Thursday's hearing, claimed was all but impossible because the company has not come close to achieving that percentage in recent decades.

Goudsmith said United Water has had increasing expenses over the last few years without raising the rates it charges customers.

"We're sensitive to the economic conditions of the time, but we're not immune to them," he said.

Councilman Joe Sack, who also spoke during the hearing, said that though United Water claimed the rate increases partially would be used to reinvest in the company's infrastructure, it would also guarantee the company additional profits.

 "What makes this drastic increase so hard to fathom is that it will apparently ensure 10 percent return-on-equity annual profits," he said. "Show me any investment that guarantees a 10 percent return in today's economy or any economy for that matter. The cost of a glass of water should not be as expensive as a bottle of Evian water."

Local officials said that the agreement is reasonable, considering the company initially requested a much higher rate increase.

"We'd loved to have as low of an increase as possible, but we think this is the best proposal that is before us and is the best that we could do," said Rye Brook Village Administrator Chris Bradbury.

The new rates are scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 24. Another hearing will be held in Albany on Tuesday to allow United Water and the other parties involved to argue their case. The Public Service Commission likely will not vote on the matter until early December.