By Keene Winters
Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
Are we going to have another water rate increase soon? I would say the odds are good. Unless the city was absolutely clairvoyant in building its last rate case, then another rate hike is in the cards.
To understand what is driving costs, a little background might be helpful and there are two things a person should know. First, Wausau Water Works is customarily a sleepy little backwater of municipal government. Clean water is delivered, and sewage is removed. The costs of those activities are recovered in fair rates approved by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. High drama is usually not a part of the mix.
More importantly, the utilities are run by the mayor. The mayor chairs the water commission and appoints three of its five members. The fifth member is chosen by the city council. So, with four of five votes in hand, the utilities are wholly owned subsidiaries of the mayor’s office.
Historically, most mayors have been content to just take care of business. But put someone in the mayor’s chair with no fiscal filter and who fancies herself an environmental justice heroine, and we are off to the races. Suddenly, we’ve got trouble . . . right here in River City. That’s trouble with a capital “T.” And, that rhymes with with “P,” and that stands for PFAS! And, everyone gets a taxpayer-funded filter pitcher to be safe! The mayor has saved us all!
Then, after a brief visit with Vice President Kamala Harris, our mayor announces that now is the time—and the time is now—to go to war with lead service lines. Suddenly, we need to replace 120 years of infrastructure immediately, no matter what the costs.!
To the extent these monumental endeavors were not planned for in the city’s last rate case, rates will rise.
Now, if you think I have mischaracterized our mayor, I would invite you to click here or scroll to the end to read a recent press release from city hall.
How solid was the city’s advanced planning? Take the salary and fringe benefits budget for the utilities as an example. In 2022, the actual salary and fringe benefit costs were $2.6 million for Wausau. But to bring the new plants online in 2023, the personnel services budget had to be raised by $566,000, or 22%. Surprise: The new plants required a massive increase in human resource costs. No one told us that was part of the deal.
Clearly, the city didn’t know what the new plants would do to staffing costs either. Personnel services actually went up $833,000 in 2023, or 47% more than budgeted. Now, for 2024, the city budget contains a 10% increase on top of that. That means the personnel services budget for the utilities has jumped by 46% to $3.7 million in just two years. Not good planning!
If would like to see the numbers yourself, click here to read the relevant section of the 2024 city budget.
Unfortunately, political grandstanding has replaced careful strategic planning. It was crazy that the mayor forged ahead with replacing our water and sewerage plants in the same year rather than staggering them. It is crazy that a metro area of 87,000 people has three sewerage plants and is not planning to come together for economies of scale. Why isn’t our mayor doing the work?
Wausau is not unique. Communities of a certain age all across the state are chipping away at problems with phosphorus discharge, PFAs, and lead service lines. We don’t see their leaders running around and shouting that the sky is going to fall unless we mobilize a Marshall Plan of spending to stop it.
This is not the kind of behavior we were promised or hoped for in 2020. But, the signs were there. We should be resolved not to be fooled again.
