The New York City Water Board’s proposal for an 18 percent rate increase was met with stiff opposition from Council Member Oliver Koppell.
According to Steve Lawitts, the Water Board’s executive director and a deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the increase is necessary to counteract plummeting revenues, which could lead to a $200 million shortfall.
Koppell disagreed saying, "The Water Board’s proposed water and sewer rate increase of 18 percent, following the 11.5 percent increase of three months ago, is unconscionable." He added that the shortfall could be eliminated if delinquent accounts are terminated, forcing people to pay on time. While this could raise concerns about the impact on poorer families, Koppell points to the safety net protections in the "Public Service Law and Regulations" resolution that he authored while in the State Assembly.
Lawitts failed to say that another reason for the spike in rates is the rising costs of capital projects such as the massively over-budget water filtration plant being built in Van Cortlandt Park, which is now ringing in at $2.8 billion.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.