LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Property owners in Los Angeles may soon face a 22% hike in their sewer service bills as the City Council gave preliminary approval on Friday, Aug. 30, for new rates that would rise further through 2028.
Councilmembers voted 11-3 in favor of an ordinance to establish a new rate schedule for sewer services, which officials say is needed to maintain operations and invest in aging infrastructure. Prior to this proposal, the city had not raised sewer fees since 2020, opting to keep rates flat due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez, Kevin de León and Heather Hutt voted against the increase, while Traci Park was absent during the vote.
To implement the new rates, the ordinance will require a second vote, scheduled for Sept. 6, and must also be approved by Mayor Karen Bass.
“I understand the need for us to continue to invest in shoring up our sewer system in the city of Los Angeles,” Rodriguez said. “However, I also recognize the concerns with the cost of living and our ability to very confidently say to taxpayers that the resources that we are assessing as part of this proposed sewer service charge is legitimately one that we are able to fulfill.”
She emphasized the need for independent evaluations to protect taxpayers, seniors and businesses.
“This is coming real fast, and we had conversations ad nauseam about the cost of living, about limiting people’s ability for rent increases, and yet can propose a 22% increase on what is a fundamental way of survival when they draw on that water – they are equally going to be taxed on their sewer service charge,” Rodriguez added.
León echoed Rodriguez’s concerns, and described the process as a “jam job.”
Council President Paul Krekorian noted that there’s “never a good time to vote for an increase on any fees,” but urged his colleagues to do so.
“But I want you also to think, as we cast this vote, about the impact over the long term of our infrastructure when we’re not properly maintaining it, not properly investing in it and not building the kind of public infrastructure that a world class city should have,” Krekorian said.
In May, LA Environment & Sanitation, the bureau overseeing the city’s sewer system, proposed new sewer rates.
Under the proposed rate change, households would receive a 22% increase in sewage service fees in October, followed by smaller percentage increases through July 2028. Ratepayers would end up spending almost double compared to the existing fees.
A single-family household currently pays $75.40, but if the rate schedule is approved, it would see a charge of $92.04 on their typical bimonthly bill. By July 2028, the charge would be $155.48, though rates are based on a percentage of the amount of water used, according to the city’s sanitation bureau.
As of the 2024-25 fiscal year, nearly one-third of pipes are older than 90 years, past their life cycle of 60 to 80 years, while treatment plants have an expected average life cycle of 30 to 50 years, Barbara Romero, general manager of the sanitation bureau, wrote in a report to City Council on May 2.
The city’s Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, a sewage treatment facility in Playa del Rey, last saw a major overhaul almost 40 years ago. On Aug. 20, the City Council approved $20.8 million to pay fines as a result of a 2021 sewage spill that released 12.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater into Santa Monica Bay.
Romero noted that over the next five years, there will be hundreds of infrastructure projects – estimated to cost more than $3 billion – including pipeline rehabilitation, water reclamation plants and water quality monitoring.
To implement the rate change, the city must comply with Proposition 218, also known as the Right to Vote on Taxes Act. This measure protects taxpayers by restricting how local governments can create or increase taxes, fees and charges without taxpayer consent. The city is required to notify property owners and adhere to public hearing and protest requirements.
Property owners had until Tuesday to submit a written protest if they opposed the proposed rate increases. The city also sent out notices in the mail about the possible sewage fee hikes to stakeholders. Additionally, the bureau hosted two informational webinars over the summer.
If more than half of property owners submitted protests against the proposal, it would have been unable to move forward. According to the city clerk, there were 7,864 written protests filed, or just 1%, of more than 786,311 affected parcels that were mailed notices and forms.
On Wednesday, during a public hearing on the proposed rates, about 25 people gave public comments to the City Council and another 10 called in via teleconference.
Simboa Wright, vice president of SEIU Local 721, who is also a sanitation wastewater conveyance operator for the city, was one of about five individuals who supported the rates. He said the proposed hikes are about protecting citizens.
“We don’t want sewage backing into people’s properties. We don’t want to have overflowing sewers going into the ocean,” Wright said. “If we don’t take care of this 80-year-old infrastructure, that’s what will happen.”
Charley Mims, executive director of the LA Professional Managers Association, also supported the proposed rates, stating that they are crucial for preserving the environment of Santa Monica Bay.
Dory Frank, a resident of the Fairfax district, described the 22% rate increase as “excessive.” He criticized the city for their lackluster effort to inform homeowners about the impact to their tax bills.
Tess Taylor, president of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, also expressed her frustration with the city’s handling of the rate increase.
“The way this rate increase has been manipulated virtually guarantees adoption by this government as a largely unregulated monopoly utility. … A standard that a proposed rate increase will be approved unless a majority of ratepayers file timely written protest is completely backwards, counterintuitive and should be unacceptable to you as it is to ratepayers,” Taylor said.