CHARLOTTE, N.C. There are a lot of ways to save money on your bills. One way is to use less water. But when a lot of people do that, it actually presents a big problem to the City of Charlotte, one the city council addressed at a meeting on Wednesday.
First, let s go back to 2008. Back then, a drought forced people to conserve water. But because people were using less, they were paying less to the city, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Department didn t have the money it needed to keep fixing old pipes. So, it proposed an 18 percent rate increase to make up for the shortfall. That had people upset. It's almost like getting blackmailed in a sense, said one business owner at the time.
Fast forward to today, and the same thing is still happening.
Using less water is a good thing. It's good for the environment and you water bill goes down. It's a bad thing if you're the city, and you don't have as much money to pay for old pipes that need fixing.
People say conserve water, and you conserve water. And next thing you know you get your bill, boom, there's an increase in the storm water fee, and water fees and such, said Councilman Greg Phipps.
City council members say there has to be a better way.
Every year I've been on council, I've voted to raise water rates and storm water fees, said Councilman David Howard. It just feels like there's something wrong with that methodology.
But at Wednesday s budget meeting, nobody had an answer. The city manager suggested that council put off a rate increase until they can better study the issue, but council voted to keep it in.
Rates are going up very modestly, said city manager Ron Carlee, roughly the same as inflation.
The water and sewer rate increases would raise about $12 million for the city.
