CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – It turns out that the public outcry over a huge water rate increase in Wausau is minimal. No one spoke against a proposed 54% rate hike. The Public Service Commission did hear from the Wausau Water Works financial consultant, who said the increase is necessary to shore up the utility’s finances.
There were only 16 people who looked in on the Zoom meeting. It’s assumed that most were Water Works or city employees or members of the media. We learned during the meeting that 20 written comments had already been submitted. Today (Monday, May 22) is the deadline for any more written comments to be made.
I would say this: there are actually two drivers of the rate increase. The first is the new water filtration plant. It was set in motion by former mayor Robert Mielke. It alone was an expensive project, with ratepayers covering most of the costs. At the time, I thought the project was overpriced. But there was consensus that the old filtration plant was falling apart and couldn’t be brought up to modern standards. The other cost-driver is the very expensive plan to bring Wausau’s PFAs, or forever chemicals in the drinking water, to zero.
That’s the part of the rate increase that the Public Service Commission should reject, because everything about PFAS is in flux. Just last Thursday, the day of the rate hearing, the state’s budget-writing committee stripped out specific PFAS standards that Governor Evers had proposed. The very next day the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee set aside $125-million for PFAS mitigation. Grant money from the federal government has already been allocated. Who gets what is unknown. State and federal PFAS guidance is literally changing day by day.
The proper ruling is to hold off on any PFASs related rate decisions until we have better answers. What will the state standards be? What’s the difference in cost between filtering to zero and filtering to a level of compliance? And how much state and federal assistance will be available?
The hearing was over in 9 minutes. We don’t know when the PSC will make a decision.
Chris Conley
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