Baltimore City residents and businesses tomorrow will be hit with the second phase of this year’s 19% increase in water and sewage rates – the highest cumulative hike since 2000, according to data complied by the Department of Public Works.

A hastily announced 10% increase was approved last January by the Board of Estimates (it went into effect on February 1), followed by the 8.5% increase that will begin tomorrow (July 1).

The board, headed by Mayor Brandon Scott, also approved a third 9% increase starting July 1, 2026, which will boost the cost of public utilities by 29% over an 18-month period.

In a separate action, the BOE imposed a 4.9% increase for Baltimore County residents using city water, also beginning tomorrow.

Typical Monthly Bill

According to DPW, the water and sewage bill for a “typical” Baltimore City family of four will rise to $155 next month.

That’s up from $142 in June and $130 last January. Included are other mandated charges, such as for stormwater management, infrastructure fees and a Bay restoration charge.

By far the largest individual charge is for sewage, which is set at roughly twice a customer’s metered water usage.

As noted in the graph below, Baltimore’s water and sewer rates have skyrocketed since 1998.

There have been increases every year since 2002, typically around 9%.

Racked by Inefficiencies

The rising cost of public utilities has periodically erupted into a heated political issue.

Mayor Scott points to deferred maintenance from “long before I was born,” an expensive consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and sharply rising construction costs as the key drivers of the latest rate increases.

He denied that he kept rate increases artificially low during his first term in office and refrained from announcing this year’s big hikes until after he was reelected last November.

Critics say that the city’s historic inability to properly bill customers (including large commercial accounts and sometimes its own agencies), rein in costs and fix widespread leaks (DPW acknowledges that over 25% of its treated water supply is lost before it reaches home taps) has led to excessive rate increases.

Recently, Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming found that the city’s Water4All program, which provides discounts for low-income residents, was poorly administered, with a former employee handing out questionable, if not fraudulent, rebates.

By law, the city is required to operate water and sewer facilities at neither a profit nor a loss and is responsible, along with Baltimore County, for paying off hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt.

The system supplies filtrated water to over 1.8 million customers in the city and parts of Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Harford counties.

It also treats roughly 200 million gallons of wastewater daily at its Back River plant in Dundalk and its Patapsco plant near Wagners Point in South Baltimore.

MORE FROM THE BREW:

• Scott administration entered into secret contracts to operate the Back River sewer plant with private consultants (2/21/24)

• A Baltimore Sewage Saga: It started in the toilet (10/21/24)

• Wonder why your water bills keep going up? Take a look at outsourcing at DPW (1/8/25)

• After thanking residents for testifying, Board of Estimates approves water rate increases that every witness opposed (1/22/25)

• Inspector General Cumming cites potential fraud at Baltimore’s Water4All program (2/5/25)

• Water has been blasting continuously out of Baltimore’s Copycat Building for half a year (3/7/25)