In his Jan. 24 editorial on proposed rate increases by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Burke Wasson touches on the many challenges facing the district, none of which have quick or easy solutions. However, several issues — which have direct bearing on points Mr. Wasson raises and MSD believes the public needs to intimately understand — bear further discussion.

Throughout the country, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has filed numerous lawsuits against communities for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. Resulting settlements have mandated that local sewer districts follow compliance schedules requiring billions of dollars to be spent over a short period of time.

For several years, MSD had been expecting EPA to file a similar lawsuit — a lawsuit that would be filed despite the billions of dollars MSD has already spent to protect our environment and our decades-long track record of making sewer system improvements.

When MSD took to its Rate Commission in March 2007 a proposal for rate increases for 2008 to 2011, it did not include the use of bonds to hold down near-term rates. Based on the federal mandates we have seen imposed on other cities, we believed the best course of action would be to reserve our bonding capacity to help lessen the severe spike in rate increases we could expect as the result of an EPA lawsuit.

In November, two weeks before the board’s last scheduled meeting on the rate increases, numerous individuals and a coalition of community and business groups started approaching the board and asked MSD to reconsider the use of bonds. Despite the extremely late timing of the request and the district’s robust efforts to solicit this type of public input over the previous eight months, MSD was left with two choices.

One choice was to ignore the numerous phone calls MSD was receiving and the dozens of individuals — representing countless others — that had appeared at the board’s November meeting. The other choice was to find a way to continue funding construction projects while furthering the public discussion about near-term rate increases. MSD chose the latter option. In December, the first year of the rate increases was approved with the understanding that future increases would be suspended until the question of bonds could be reconsidered.

EPA and the state of Missouri filed a lawsuit against our community last June. In his editorial, Mr. Wasson refers to “upcoming EPA-requested improvements.” While Mr. Wasson raises several legitimate and thoughtful points, the improvements will not be “requested” — they will be a federal mandate that MSD has no choice but to follow. Based on what we have seen in other cities, it will be a mandate that does not take into account the impact on future rates. And the billions of dollars needed to fund this mandate will not come from Washington, D.C. Rather, the dollars will come out of the pockets of each and every citizen in our community.

The lawsuit, the size of our sewer system in relation to our population, the age of our system and many other topics make the setting of rates a very complex issue. Should MSD use bonds now to hold down rates in the short-term? Should current bonding capacity be reserved until the outcome of the EPA lawsuit is known? Is $275 million enough bonding to significantly hold down rates for customers on low and fixed incomes? Should more be used or is that unfair to others in our community? There are no easy answers to these and the many other questions we are addressing.

MSD is a government agency that fulfills an “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” need. As public servants — and citizens of our community — we manage the sewer system using our best professional judgment. However, the multibillion dollar questions MSD is dealing with today will have an impact on our community for generations to come. Questions of such magnitude require broad public input. Thus, we are taking the specific question of bonds to the Rate Commission — an action we believe is incumbent upon us as a government agency. Our hope is that the individuals and groups that did not participate in the last rate setting process will this time take their concerns directly to the Rate Commission.

We are confident that the commission will find their viewpoints as insightful and meaningful as we have. At the same time, this may be the last opportunity available to have an extended conversation about rates and how our community wishes to structure future increases. If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity now, the lawsuit and other pending changes to regulatory requirements may decide for us.

Regardless of what the lawsuit does to our community’s ability to make choices for itself, today’s MSD is committed to finding the right balance between the environmental protection of our area’s waterways and the rates we must charge to fund those efforts. This balance can only be achieved through an ongoing dialogue with the public. Taking the question of bonds back to the Rate Commission is part of delivering on our commitment.

Lance LeComb, spokesperson

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District