Greenwood to raise sewer rates by 25%

<p>Greenwood residents can expect their monthly sewer bills to increase by more than $10 come February.</p><p>The city has to raise sewer rates by 25% next year due to an agreement with Indianapolis-based Citizens Energy Group to raise sewer treatment costs across central Indiana.</p><p>In 2016, when Citizens Energy bought the Indianapolis water and wastewater systems, the company raised rates for Indianapolis residents. Then, the company saw residents in surrounding donut cities, including Greenwood, Westfield, Beech Grove, Lawrence and Speedway, were paying significantly less than Indianapolis residents. </p><p>So, Citizens Energy requested a 500% increase in wastewater treatment rates in those cities — including Greenwood — immediately. The proposed change would have increased Greenwood’s treatment rate from $0.76 per 1,000 gallons to $5.76.</p><p>The request came right after Greenwood had already decided to increase overall sewer bills by 49% in November 2016 to fund more than $80 million in projects to improve the city’s aging and overflowing sewer lines that had prompted action from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.</p><p>The City of Greenwood pushed back against Citizens Energy’s request, and in 2017, settled on a 250% increase over the next seven years.</p><p>The settlement put city officials in a tough position because increasing residents’ bills by this much is not ideal for anyone, but the city does not have a choice in this case, Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said when the proposed increase was brought up at last week’s Greenwood City Council meeting.</p><p>&quot;This is nothing any of us want to talk about or deal with. But unfortunately, it’s what’s been handed to us, and we have to act on it quickly,&quot; Myers said.</p><p>The largest increase will come this February at 25%, and then an additional 5% will be added each year until 2025. Usage and treatment charges per 1,000 gallon is currently at $5.14. That will increase to $6.43 next year.</p><p>For the average Greenwood resident, their sewer bill will jump to $60.21 a month $48.17 starting in February. Another $3 to $4 will be added each year, so residents, depending on their water usage, can expect sewer bills to rise by between $20 to $30 overall in the next five years.</p><p>The increase is a result of the Citizens Energy settlement, not the millions that is still needed to cover the remaining sewer improvements Greenwood is starting next year, said Adam Stone, a financial consultant for the city. </p><p>Greenwood has six sewer improvement projects lined up to start next year, totaling $56.6 million; $34.8 million of that money is going toward phase two of the Western Regional Interceptor sewer line replacement — the largest capital project in the city’s history — and $7.5 million will go to replacing sewer lining.</p><p>The projects are part of a capital improvement plan to fix Greenwood’s troubled sewer systems, which prompted intervention from IDEM in 2012 after constant overflows became an issue. </p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="By the numbers" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at how the average Greenwood resident’s monthly sewer bill will increase over the next five years:</p><p>Current: $48.17</p><p>February: $60.21</p><p>2022: $63.22</p><p>2023: $66.38</p><p>2024: $69.70</p><p>2025: $73.19</p><p><em>Source: City of Greenwood</em></p>[sc:pullout-text-end]