What happens when water and sewer rates are too high for at least a third of households to afford their monthly bills? Presently, Baltimore’s solution is to keep hiking the rates. This isn’t going to work out, says one economist.
Roger Colton, author of a recent report that says Baltimore is in a “downward spiral” with water and sewer billing, will be on hand tonight at Studio 4 downtown to discuss solutions for the utility situation that he and others argue is getting out of control.
By Colton’s calculations, the city’s three-year, roughly 30 percent hike on water rates will leave more than half of Baltimore households earning median income (relative to their neighbors) with unaffordable monthly bills by 2019. For the one-in-four city households living at or below the poverty line, Colton argues unpaid bills will only pile up as rates increase, leaving the city with even more missing utility revenue and an incentive to again hike water and sewer rates in order to compensate.
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