12.6.07

M.U.D. customers to see $5 increase on their monthly bills
by Nancy Gaarder, Omaha World-Herald

Residential customers of the Metropolitan Utilities District will begin paying $5 more a month in fees as the result of a Wednesday vote by the district's board.

The board unanimously approved two new infrastructure fees to help replace aging water and natural gas mains.

The fees will appear separately on bills, with $2 going to the water system and $3 to the gas system.

Combined, the fees are expected to generate $18.7 million in 2008.

The vote launches the first phase of what will probably be a decades-long, possibly $1 billion effort to replace utility mains.

The water fee is projected to reach $4 by 2012, and the gas fee is projected to remain unchanged until at least then. Eventually, though, it's possible that both fees will continue to rise, depending on costs.

The board also approved a 5 percent increase in water rates, which is expected to cost the average residential customer about 80 cents more a month.

The increases constitute a small part of a customer's overall bill, with the cost of natural gas the largest factor. If 2008 natural gas prices are similar to current prices, the increases translate into about a 6.5 percent increase in customers' total bills, or about $70 a year.

The impact of the fees on M.U.D. customers is compounded by the fact that the City of Omaha is raising its sewer fees by about 9 percent a year. The sewer fees are billed through M.U.D.

M.U.D .board member John S. McCollister said he was concerned about the effects the fees will have on customers.

"We're only doing this because we absolutely have to," he said. "I feel terrible that we have to saddle (customers) with these additional costs. . . . but we have to move ahead."

Omahan Jeff Pokorny was the only member of the public to speak at the hearing that preceded the vote.

Pokorny said the increases mean that more people will be unable to afford their gas, water and sewer bills and that more people will begin using primitive methods to handle their waste. He said some people might begin using buckets and compost piles as toilets.

Pokorny also said M.U.D., by building a new $352 million water treatment plant and well field, is abetting the Omaha metropolitan area's unrestrained use of water.

"The working principle of M.U.D. is to provide water to every person, every day, unlimited," he said. "I don't know that that's reasonable."

Board members defended the need for the new water plant, saying that it aids economic growth and is important for fighting fires.

"That plant is not for watering lawns, it is for a safer community," board member Mark Doyle said.

The utility anticipates spending about $112 million over the next five years replacing gas and water mains. The structure and timing of the effort is being driven by the City of Omaha's $1.5 billion plan to upgrade its sewer system.

M.U.D. will piggyback its replacement of utility mains on the city's sewer work so that streets are torn up only once.

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