According to the 2017 projections by the MET council, rates for municipal customers, meaning cities, will increase another 5.4 percent for waste water collection and treatment . This is the WAC portion of the often mentioned WAC/SAC fees that have been of great interest and discussion in local city council meetings. The debate involves the prices charged in different cities and their effect on the cost of building and updating homes and businesses.The Met Council announcement states the increase is mainly due to more debt service required for aging sewer pipes that must be replaced to keep the infrastructure functioning. They also stated that SAC rates will not increase, due to recent economic growth. SAC pays for the reserve capacity that is already built into pipes and the treatment plants needed to accommodate future growth. Their newsletter states that such revenue is not used for other council programs. Users on the local level within Hastings are charged by the city as well as by the Met Council. There has not been a fee increase projected by the city, thus far, but a survey was to have been completed this month to assess the current charges and determine whether or not local fees were unnecessarily inflated. The results of that survey, and it’s current progress has not been released.
Posted 09/03/16 KDWA News
