The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans has proposed a rate increase that could go into effect as soon as July 1 and increase the monthly bills for all off-campus Loyola students.
The proposal is a result of a financial crisis at the board. At a recent public hearing Sewerage and Water Board officials said the board’s cash balances have become depleted, its income barely exceeds expenses, drainage projects are underfunded and there are large expenses for new pumping stations that need to be built.
The problem began after Hurricane Katrina when the city’s finances deteriorated rapidly. The organization lost many paying customers and had to spend federal and state money on repairing damaged or destroyed facilities, officials said at the public hearing on rates in January.
According to presentation documents at the hearing, the Sewerage and Water Board is now “at a tipping point,” and it cannot continue to defer necessary operating and capital initiatives without affecting its ability to provide reliable and necessary services to the New Orleans community.
According to Loyola’s student records, 1,547 undergraduate students live off campus, so the fare hike will affect more than half of Loyola students.
“I think that the proposed increases from the water board scare people. I know I don’t want to pay more for my water bill,” said Norah Sloss, sociology junior.
The recommended rate increase will be 14 percent for water and 15 percent for sewage per year. According to the Sewerage and Water Board’s estimates, the average household’s sewage and water bill would increase almost $8 a month in 2012, with a continuing increase of 15 percent every year. The Sewerage and Water Board estimated that by 2016, the bill would increase by almost $52 a month.
“If the increase will make a difference in the success of local business and city projects I would support them,” Sloss said. “I think the public just needs to see how the benefits of the increased rates could outweigh the higher monthly bills, and I don’t think this has really been explained to the public fully.”
Kristen Himmelberg can be reached at [email protected]
