CRAPPER CASH: CoMo City manager seeks 6% to 20% sewer fee hikes

Talk about a royal flush!  

COLUMBIA, Mo  9/18/17 (Beat Byte) --  Sewer rates and fees will go up Oct. 1, for the fourth time in as many years, if Columbia City Council members approve more than 90 rate and fee hikes city manager Mike Matthes is urging Monday night.

This final Daily Rate Hike report checks out the details. 

Two types of sewer rates are billed monthly: volume and base charges.  

Under the Matthes increases, renters and homeowners will pay a 6% higher base charge, from the current  $11.56 to $12.25 per month.

The residential volume charge will also rise 6%, from $2.38 to $2.52 per 100 cubic feet (cf) of sewage discharged.  An average-sized home or apartment discharges 2-7 cf of sewage per month. 

Commercial, office, and industrial (non-residential) users will also pay 6% more based on the sizes of their sewer pipes.  

Non-residential customers with the smallest 5/8 inch diameter pipes pay the increased residential base rate.   Non-residential customers with sewer pipe sizes ranging from 3/4 to 12 inches in diameter will pay 6% higher base rates, from $18.39 per month to $2,634.64/month. 

Matthes has reserved the largest sewer fee increases -- twenty percent -- for new customers who want to connect to the city wastewater system, a move sure to push up already-high housing prices that have helped make Columbia the state's highest cost of living city. 

"Each new user of the wastewater system shall pay a wastewater system connection fee," the ordinance reads.   Also based on sewer pipe diameter, all sewer connection fees are going up 20%.  

Pipe size (in)     Current Fee $    New Fee $

5/8        2,000          2,400

3/4        3,000          3,600

1            5,000          6,000

1½       10,000       12,000

2          16,000       19,200

3          32,000       38,400

4          50,000       60,000

6         100,000    120,000

8         160,000    192,000

10       230,000    276,000

12       430,000    516,000

Voice your opinion.   Contact the Columbia City Council:

Brian Treece, Mayor
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Clyde Ruffin
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Michael Trapp
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Karl Skala

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Ian Thomas

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Matt Pitzer

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Betsy Peters  

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Mike Matthes, Columbia city manager

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