Sylvania City residents will see $3 bump in 2014 monthly water bills

12/2/2013

City of Sylvania residents will see about a $3 bump in their monthly water bills next year, after City Council on Monday approved a 13 percent water rate increase.

Council members at their Monday night meeting unanimously approved a pass-through rate increase from the City of Toledo of 13 percent a year for three years starting Jan. 1 to residents within its water district. The increase will affect about 5,900 accounts, some of which are located in Sylvania Township.

The rates will increase by $.45 in 2014, to $6 for every 1,000 gallons of water used for city residents. Those non-city residents who reside in the city’s water district are assessed a 25 percent surcharge, and their cost per 1,000 gallons used will be about $8.

Sylvania City Service Director Kevin Aller said a typical bill based on usage of 7,500 gallons in a month would increase in 2014 to $44 for city residents, and $56 for the non-city rate. The average bill in 2013 was about $41 for a city household and, $52 for non-city customers.

In May the City of Toledo approved increases of about 13 percent a year, for four years, and an additional 4.5 percent increase in the fifth year, to pay for more than $300 million in repairs and upgrades to its water drinking plant, mandated by the Ohio EPA. Toledo provides water to Sylvania.

Mr. Aller said the fixes to Toledo’s water plant are much needed, as the pumping system, was close to failure last year.

Mr. Aller proposed a straight pass through of those hikes onto customers in the city water district up to 2016, while maintaining the fees for operating costs. The administration plans to review the rates toward the end of 2016.

With the increases, the average city household bill would be about $49 in 2015, and $53 in 2016. A non-city customer's bill would be about $61 in 2015, and about $66 in 2016.

Some township residents who are served by the Lucas County water district and receive their quarterly bill directly from the City of Toledo, will also see about a 13 percent increase in rates starting Jan. 1, or about a $9 increase on their quarterly bill.

Contact Natalie Trusso Cafarello at: 419-206-0356, or ntrusso@theblade.com, or on Twitter @natalietrusso.