Like the cost of many other things in Petersburg, the price of municipal water and sewer service is going up.
Petersburg’s borough assembly last night approved rate hikes of three percent a year for each of the next four years for customers on the borough’s water and sewer systems.
The increases are based on a consultant’s recommendation to cover rising costs in the two departments while also repaying the cost of water and sewer projects approved by voters in 2019.
During a radio call-in show Monday, mayor Mark Jensen explained the need for the boost.
“Well I think we’re going along with the rate studies that we’ve done and I think the rate studies were before this inflation happened so that just made it even worse,” Jensen said. “Everything’s getting more expensive from the goods you need to run those two utilities and freight, etc. It has to pay for itself.”
In the past year, the borough has also raised the cost of electricity and garbage along with harbor rates. There’s been little public push back on rate hikes. For water and sewer, the first three percent increase takes effect with the start of the new fiscal year in July.
