ASTORIA WATER, SEWER RATES TO RISE

City of Astoria water and sewer rates are going up.  Monday night the City Council voted for a 2% rise in water rates, a 2% rise in sewer rates and a 4% rise in the CSO or Combined Sewer Overflow surcharge.  

City Manager Paul Benoit explained the surcharge increase

“Relative to the CSO surcharge, that adjustment is specifically tied to debt service payments that we have to make on funds borrowed to do this work, as is the example: the work that’s underway right now is a $7million project.  We are not obligated to pay on the funds borrowed for that until the project is completed, so in the next fiscal year we will be proposing another adjustment to pay that debt” 

Council member Drew Herzig expressed misgivings about the rate increases

“ I’m planning to vote against this.  I realize that we have to pay for the sewer, the water and the CSO, but I’m concerned that Astoria is going to become unaffordable for people of middle and low income or fixed income.”  

Benoit said the last of the CSO projects will be completed by the year 2020.  After that there should be no further increases for the debt service. Surcharges for debt service should peak in about 2017 then slowly decrease until the debt is paid.

The council voted to pass the increases with Herzig casting the lone dissenting vote.