The City Council Tuesday will consider implementing new rates for sewer services with a 22% increase starting in October, followed by smaller and subsequent fee hikes through 2028.
The council voted 11-3 on Aug. 30 to give preliminary approval for an ordinance that would establish a new rate schedule for sewer services, which officials say is needed to maintain operations and improve aging infrastructure. To effectuate the new rates, the ordinance requires a second vote and must also be approved by Mayor Karen Bass.
Prior to this proposal, the city had not raised sewer rates since 2020 due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on Los Angeles residents.
Council members Monica Rodriguez, Kevin de León and Heather Hutt, who voted against the increase, raised concerns about how property owners could afford the new rates.
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, Los Angeles Environment & Sanitation, the bureau that oversees the city’s sewer system, proposed new 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 the City Council on May 2.
Romero also 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.