The Anchorage Assembly has approved a 4.7 percent increase for municipal water and sewer charges, which will now be considered by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
The Assembly passed the proposed increase unanimously at its meeting last week. It would raise bills for the average single family residential customer to $91.72 from $87.63, according to numbers from the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility.
The utility wants the new rates to go into effect starting next year. They represent a 4 percent increase in water rates, and a 5.5 percent increase in sewer rates.
The increases would generate about $5 million in additional annual revenues for the utility, which represents a roughly 10 percent jump. The utility's last increase, which was about 5 percent, came at the beginning of this year.
Commercial garbage collection fees could also go up under a proposal being introduced the Assembly this week.
Solid Waste Services, the city-run garbage collector, is asking the Assembly to approve substantial increases in the fees it charges to pick up trash from containers.
Charges for pickups for the smallest containers would actually decrease slightly, but for larger containers prices would increase by as much as 347 percent. That's for pickups of 4-cubic-yard compacted trash, which Solid Waste Services says "has been extremely undervalued."
The proposed charges can be viewed here: http://publicdocs.muni.org/sirepub/cache/0/34qzdx23dnla1hj5jqqx3k45/47797410302013030426938.PDF
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Reach Nathaniel Herz at nherz@adn.com or 257-4311.
By NATHANIEL HERZ