Mayor Eric Adams plans to implement what critics call a “hidden tax” that would raise homeowners’ water bills by 8.5% — although he boasts his new budget plan won’t include more taxes.
The city plans to charge its own Water Board at least $1.4 billion in rent over four years to lease the water and sewer systems, The New York Times first reported.
In turn, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection wants the Water Board to raise rates in July for homeowners and homeowners by 8.5 percent, according to a proposal released Friday by the board.
If approved, the rate increase would cover only part of the rent costs, with the rest likely covered by funds that typically cover upgrades to capital water and sewer projects.
“It’s all legal, but legal doesn’t make it right,” Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens), who chairs the Environmental Protection Committee, told the newspaper.
He described the funding mechanism, which hasn’t been used in decades, as a “hidden tax” to get extra money from New Yorkers without raising property or sales taxes.
Single-family homeowners pay an average of $1,088 for water each year, and the proposed increase would increase that amount by $93, the Times reported. Landlords generally pay for water but pass the cost on to tenants in their monthly rents.
Adams last month released a $111.6 billion executive budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that restores many previously cut services, despite declining pandemic aid and costs linked to the migrant crisis in the city which continues to skyrocket.
Liz Garcia, a spokeswoman for the mayor, defended the project, saying the city “continues to lead the nation in keeping water rates low, with New Yorkers paying less than the average American living in a large city for exceptional water quality and supply.”
She also said New Yorkers would not notice the Water Board’s likely reduction in funding for long-term repairs.
“We will invest billions of dollars in large-scale improvements over the next decade to improve our water and sewer systems and improve drainage, while ensuring that classy New Yorkers Working-class people – especially low-income residents and the elderly – pay affordable prices. rates,” she said.
“We will continue our commitment to providing high-quality, low-cost water to New Yorkers while making critical improvements to our city’s infrastructure. »
New York Post
