Columbus City Council is weighing an 18 percent increase in water rates for city and suburban customers — the second year in a row the city has considered a water increase of that size — ahead of a utilities committee hearing at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at City Hall and a council vote planned for Nov. 23, according to reporting by The Columbus Dispatch.
As proposed, the average Columbus household of two to three people would see its combined annual water, sewer and stormwater bill rise from $1,247 to $1,371, an increase of about $124, Columbus Water & Power estimates cited by The Columbus Dispatch show. The average two-to-three-person suburban household would see its combined bill rise from $1,370 to $1,523, an increase of about $153, according to those estimates.
City officials say the increases would bring in at least $20 million more in revenue and are needed to pay for a planned fourth water plant and other infrastructure projects, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The combined bill increase would work out to about 10 percent for city customers and about 11 percent for suburban customers, because the 18 percent water increase is paired with smaller sewer and stormwater increases.
At an October meeting of the city’s seven-member Utility Advisory Board, the board voted unanimously for a 4 percent sanitary sewer rate increase and a 2 percent stormwater increase, but two members — Katie White, executive director of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging, and Jackie Gutter, a staff attorney at Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio — voted against the 18 percent water increase, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The board’s votes are advisory only, and council will make the final decision.
White told The Columbus Dispatch that inflation and federal changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are already hitting residents hard. “We absolutely need to make sure our water infrastructure is up to date, it just is coming at the cost of residents,” White told The Columbus Dispatch. White suggested delaying the water increase by a year, an idea city water leaders resisted.
Councilmember Christopher Wyche, who chairs council’s Public Utilities & Sustainability committee, told The Columbus Dispatch he understands people are struggling and that the city has increased outreach on its discount programs, but he supports the increases. “We have to make adult choices and smart decisions on where we are going from an infrastructure standpoint,” Wyche told The Columbus Dispatch. “We cannot wait to build things when we need them because then it will be too late and the cost just continues to go up.”
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on. What is known: the hearing is Thursday, Nov. 12, the vote is planned for Nov. 23, and Deputy Water & Power Director Jon Lee told board members a delay could further delay the fourth water plant, according to The Columbus Dispatch. What is not yet known: whether council will approve the full 18 percent, approve a smaller increase, or delay it — and what final timeline the city will set for rebidding the plant project in early 2027.
The plant itself is a big part of the story. The city received no bids this year to build the plant for nearly $2 billion, Lee told The Columbus Dispatch, and the city is updating its plans and targeting putting the project back out to bid in early 2027. The city also faces about $1 billion in costs to replace its remaining lead service lines under a federal mandate, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Columbus also provides electricity to about 19,000 residential and commercial customers, and the Division of Power is proposing a residential electricity increase estimated at about $10 a month, while seeking no commercial electricity increase in 2027 to stay competitive, The Columbus Dispatch reported. White also voted against the city electric power rate increase at the advisory board meeting.
Help is available for customers who qualify, and the city says it is expanding it. Columbus Water & Power offers bill discounts for seniors age 60 and older and for households earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line — for example, a three-person household earning $51,876 or less — and the city is preparing to raise the income-qualified discount from 30 percent to 35 percent, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Enrollment has risen 36 percent in the last year to about 11,800 customers, including about 5,700 seniors, though officials say many eligible homeowners and renters in master-metered apartment buildings are still not enrolled. Customers can apply at columbus.gov/payassist or by calling (614) 645-8276 on weekdays.
Related coverage from NewsForce247: ODOT’s draft list putting $15.1 million behind four central Ohio road projects and Columbus firefighters breaking with Mayor Ginther to back Hardin for mayor in 2027.
What happens next is the Nov. 12 hearing and then the council vote planned for Nov. 23. If council approves the increases as proposed, the new rates would apply to Columbus city and suburban water customers, with the discount expansion arriving alongside them; if council trims or delays the water increase, the city has warned the fourth water plant timeline could slip further.