Greenwood council members voted reluctantly to raise sewer rates significantly, saying the city’s hands are tied.
The city has to raise sewer rates by 25% next month, then an additional 5% each year until 2025, due to an agreement with Indianapolis-based Citizens Energy Group.
Four Greenwood residents attended the Greenwood City Council meeting Monday night to protest the rate hike. They said it is too big of a jump overnight. Initially, it will raise monthly bills by more than $10 per month.
“It’s going up too high, too quick, too fast,” resident Jeffry Hancock said.
All nine council members agreed the rate hike is excessive, but said the city has no choice but to approve what the utility company requested.
“We’re being held hostage by Citizens Energy,” council member Bob Dine said. “To keep everything going and to keep the city from going bankrupt, we have to do this.”
When Citizens Energy bought the Indianapolis water and wastewater systems in 2011, the company raised rates for Indianapolis residents. Then, the company noticed residents in surrounding donut cities, including Greenwood, Beech Grove, Lawrence, Speedway and Westfield, were paying significantly less than Indianapolis residents.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission ordered Citizens Energy to update the wholesale rates charged to several utilities in the Indianapolis area for wastewater treatment services, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
As a result, 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 to $5.76 per 1,000 gallons from $0.76.
The city pushed back, and in 2017, settled on a 250% increase over the next seven years.
“We don’t take this likely. We do our best to fight for this city and for you,” council member Linda Gibson said.
The updated rates reflect increased costs for operations and system improvement projects incurred by Citizens in recent years, such as the expansion of wastewater treatment plants.
The largest increase will come next month and grow gradually after that. Usage and treatment charges per 1,000 gallons will increase to $6.43; it is currently $5.14.
For the average Greenwood resident, their sewer bills will jump to $60.21 from $48.17 next month. Another $3 to $4 will be tacked on each year, so residents, depending on their water usage, can expect their sewer bills to go up $20 to $30 in the next five years.
“I agree it’s outrageous,” council member Mike Campbell said. “I don’t see that we have much choice as a city because that’s what we have to pay.”
The council voted 8-1 to approve the rate hike. Council member Ron Bates voted no in protest, he said. He told the council he could not vote for something residents were blatantly against, and he could not vote to raise bills at a time when many people are already under financial stress due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t like being forced to vote for something I don’t have a choice over,” Bates said.
