MAUMEE, Ohio — Expected increases to Maumee's water and sewage rates were a hot-button topic at Monday's city council meeting.
If Ordinance 15-2024 passes, Maumee residents will see increases throughout the next five years. The current water rate of $12.90 is set to increase to $13.36 per 1,000 gallons of water in July.
From there, rates through 2029 will rise to nearly $19 per 1,000 gallons.
"It's very hard to swallow because of the amount of the increase it's going to be," said David Ross, a Maumee resident at the meeting.
James MacDonald, Maumee mayor, said the proposed increases account for the future.
"We had to plan for the future, and as we look at what it's going to cost us in the future and what Toledo is charging us for water, what it's now going to cost us to treat our water," he said. "We have to plan for that."
Maumee is part of the Toledo Regional Water Commission, meaning its water comes from the city of Toledo and gets distributed to Maumee and other commissioned municipalities, part of a 2019 contract Maumee agreed to for the next 40 years.
"It would have made things a lot easier on the citizens if they could have spread it out for a longer period of time," Ross said. "It's just too bad that they waited for so long that we're now paying for something for 40 years and we're the ones suffering for it."
The sewage rates are set to increase even more dramatically, which Ross again said is "very hard to swallow."
The current sewage rate of $12.65 could see an increase of nearly 82% over the same period as the water rate, meaning that in five years, sewage rates per 1,000 gallons will be around $31.
MacDonald said the increases are for infrastructure improvements and other needs.
"We have to maintain a water department," he said. "We have personnel, we have wages, we have equipment we got to buy, external contractors we use, there's a whole host of reasons of why things have gone up."
The reasoning doesn't mitigate the concern from residents like Ross that the prices will affect their daily lives.
"I was paying $100 for water and sewage for a family of four, and now I'm paying $150 for just a family of two of us, and now it's going to $300 dollars," he said. "It's just astronomical the increase."
The ordinance is set for a third reading and a vote on June 3.