BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo homeowners will see an increase in their sewer and water bills as soon as July 1 — one from the Buffalo Sewer Authority and a potential second from the Buffalo Water Board later this year.
The Buffalo Sewer Authority increase will add around $2 per month to the average Buffalo homeowner's bill. Sewer Authority's Chief Financial Officer Charles Riley said the increase is needed to fund mandated infrastructure improvements under a legal agreement with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reduce raw sewage discharged into local waterways.
The consent judgment with the DEC requires Buffalo Sewer to complete $1 billion of infrastructure work in the next 14 years.
"We have to put the water that leaves your home back into the Niagara River in a clean drinkable fashion. It's a very expensive process to do that," Riley said.
Riley said the City of Buffalo will send out the annual sewer tax on the sewer authority's behalf on July 1st. When calculated quarterly, he said most customers will see an increase of a little over $4.50. He added the authority is working to limit the financial impact on customers by funding some of the improvements through grants and low-interest loans, though he warned more increases are to come in future years.
"But we are doing our best to keep these rate increases as manageable as possible," Riley said.
Affordability programs are available for low-income and senior homeowners.
WATCH: Buffalo sewer and water bills set to rise, with two separate rate hikes coming as soon as July 1
But I found out another rate hike could be hitting Buffalonians.
A separate increase of 11% could take effect as early as July 1, according to Bill Ferguson, an accountant from the Buffalo comptroller's office, speaking at the board's most recent public meeting. I confirmed this through the city's budget documents.
I called Buffalo Water Board Chair Brian Gould to learn more. He responded via text message and told me no rate increase has yet been approved or planned for this year "because arrears collections have increased substantially." Gould added he hoped the uptick in collections would offset any potential rate hike.
Gould said Ferguson's projection did not take into account the fact Buffalo Water has collected more than $3.3 million in outstanding customer arrears since mid-March and the board is subsequently "fully on target" to hit their budget for the current fiscal year. Gould told me the recently adopted budget will be modified based on the final figures from that arrears capture.
Gould added the Water Board's rate consultant forecast a 4% increase for the upcoming fiscal year at most. That contradicts Ferguson's statements in the board's most recent public meeting. He said the rate consultant forecast an increase of 11% for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, followed by a 13% increase for FY2027-2028 and 5% for FY 2028-2029. But Gould said Ferguson's data is old.
I found no evidence that sewer officials had directly notified customers of the hikes. When I asked Riley why residents were learning about the increases from media coverage rather than directly from the authority, he acknowledged the gap.
"We're a sewer department that people tend to not get too motivated to find out about," Riley said.
Buffalo Sewer said a news release is now in the works.
