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MSD Raising Rates 6.5percent Sewer Cleaning, Checks to Increase
By Sheldon S. Shafer
sshafer@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Metropolitan Sewer District plans to raise its residential rates
effective Aug. 1.
It will be the fourth straight year that MSD has increased its charges, each
time by 6.5 percent.
The monthly sewer charge paid by residential customers will rise to $19.84 from
$18.60, said Bud Schardein, MSD's executive director. The figures are based on
an average family of four using about 12,000 gallons of water a month for
bathing, washing dishes and clothes, flushing toilets and watering grass and
plants. It does not include drinking water.
The new rates also call for raising the monthly drainage fee by 6.5 percent --
to $4.70 from $4.41. The revenue goes to clean drainage ditches and for other
drainage improvements countywide.
Sewer and drainage fees are reflected on bills mailed every two months.
The rate increases must be approved by the agency's board, but the plan does not
go before the Louisville Metro Council.
Only four people spoke at a public hearing Thursday night on the pending higher
rates. Ray Pierce, who lives on Semillon Lane in southwestern Jefferson County,
contended that higher rates are not justified and that MSD is poorly managed and
carries too much debt.
In an interview yesterday, Pierce said that water stands frequently in his
Leemont Acres subdivision and that the drainage fee is burdensome, especially on
older people on fixed incomes. The higher rates, he said, amount to "the same
old, same old."
Among MSD supporters is David Wicks, coordinator of the Center for Environmental
Education, a Jefferson County Public Schools program. He said MSD has "the
expertise, talent and some of the resources to do a good job. It just needs more
resources, and I am willing to support higher rates" to help improve the water
quality of local streams.
David Simcox, who lives in the Plainview area off Hurstbourne Parkway, said his
neighborhood has drainage problems caused by aging pipes, some with tree roots
growing into them.
He said he would rather not pay 6.5 percent more for MSD service, but he said he
"recognizes the inevitability" of having to pay more to keep up with "the damage
we are doing to the environment."
Jerry Nalley, who lives on Longfield Avenue in southern Louisville, said the
alley behind his house frequently floods and, in heavy rains, he must use a sump
pump to keep water from accumulating in his basement.
He said he does not think he gets his money's worth from MSD, adding, "Like
everybody else, I don't like to see the cost of anything go up."
Louisville sewer rates compare favorably with some other cities, according to a
survey of rates as of Jan. 1 compiled by the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies (based on a monthly charge for 12,000 gallons of water a
month).
The rates were: Cincinnati, $34.53 a month; Nashville, Tenn., $31.47;
Indianapolis, $21.50; St. Louis, $20.58; and Lexington-Fayette, $14.24. The
nationwide average was $21.69.
Schardein said the MSD board expects to take final action on the rates July 12.
MSD's 2005-06 budget calls for spending $78.4 million for operations and
maintenance, compared with $75.4 million in the fiscal year ending June 30. The
new budget calls for increased spending for cleaning and inspecting sewers under
a preventive-maintenance program.
During the next fiscal year, Schardein said, MSD will finish the $21 million
expansion of the West County Treatment Plant and the $12 million expansion of
the Hite plant in the eastern part of the county. And the new Buchanan Street
Pumping Station, an $8 million project, will be dedicated in early August.