Upcoming public meetings:
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
7:30 p.m.
Stella B. Werner Building
7th Floor Council Hearing Room
100 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850Tuesday, August 12, 2014
7:30 p.m.
Prince George’s County RMS Building
Room 308
1400 McCormick Drive
Largo, MD 20774
Using less water as a society will mean local residents will wind up paying more. Washington Sewer and Sanitary Commission is holding two public meetings to discuss upcoming changes to customer bills.
WSSC says proposed changes include raising the account maintenance fee, which is intended to cover the cost of customer meters and other customer service expenses. The utility company says the fee is charged quarterly and has not been raised from $11 since it was added in 1990. WSSC says the current fee collection only covers about 70% of those expenses.
WSSC also hopes to add a fixed, infrastructure-reconstruction fee to help offset the cost of maintaining 5,600 miles of water pipe.
The Washington Post reports that this would add an additional $16 onto quarterly bills for the average family in addition to the 5.5% rate increase to accounts in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties that went into affect July 1.
If you wish to speak at either of the meetings, you would need to contact WSSC’s Budget Group at 301-206-8110 prior to the meeting dates, says the news release dated August 4.
If you can’t make it to the meetings, you can email a submit a written statement via email for inclusion in the meeting record. Email the statement to BudgetGroup@wsscwater.com or send it to Letitia Carolina-Powell, Acting Budget Group Leader, WSSC, 14501 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, MD 20707.
