Anonymous wrote:crickets from the mayor and city council after dc water got caught trying to defraud customers. remarkable

I’m sure DC water execs were quietly scolding for so badly handling the fleecing of the rubes.

crickets from the mayor and city council after dc water got caught trying to defraud customers. remarkable

Has anyone reached out to their CM about this and received a response?

The Council should at least commission a review of DC Water's finances and charges.

Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic of the original post, dc water is still raising the clean rivers charge by 14.1% per ERU, even if they are backing down from their flawed reassessment of homeowners’ ERUs. Why is that charge going up so much?

DC Water has a massive and increasing amount of debt to service and the cost of servicing that debt is increasing (I wonder if being financially independent from the DC government increases those costs).

Some of the projects that created that debt - replacing lead pipes - are worthwhile. Some - such as the new HQ building - seem downright wasteful. Others - such as cleaning up the rivers - are worthwhile but should not be left to DC residents alone to pay for.

Of course, DC Water’s payroll is bloated and it’s easier for management to raise rates than it is to fire people. Absent a massive outcry, the Board is always going to approve a rate increase rather than insist that DC Water rationalize their costs.

The projections in the budget are scary. DC residents water costs are going to rise sharply in the coming years.

DC Water only became an independent public entity in 1996. Spinning it off from the city government probably seemed like a good idea at that time. But I’m not sure it looks like such a great idea now. The Board structure makes it essentially unaccountable to DC residents, who are bearing the costs of its profligacy.

Back to the topic of the original post, dc water is still raising the clean rivers charge by 14.1% per ERU, even if they are backing down from their flawed reassessment of homeowners’ ERUs. Why is that charge going up so much?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This link includes a copy of a response from DC Water to a user who sent in a protest of the increase to their water bill based on the impervious area recalculation, saying the rate increases are bring postponed.

https://groups.io/g/clevelandpark/topic/dc_water_puts_hold_on/117014620

So basically tried to pull a fast one on our customers. Got caught so will now have to be more deliberate in exercising our monopoly power.

The letter reads like, "Sorry you're too dumb to understand what we did and have always done."

Also conspicuously missing is any method to challenge or refute their "aerial imaging" nonpermeable square footage calculations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This link includes a copy of a response from DC Water to a user who sent in a protest of the increase to their water bill based on the impervious area recalculation, saying the rate increases are bring postponed.

https://groups.io/g/clevelandpark/topic/dc_water_puts_hold_on/117014620

So basically tried to pull a fast one on our customers. Got caught so will now have to be more deliberate in exercising our monopoly power.

The letter reads like, "Sorry you're too dumb to understand what we did and have always done."

Anonymous wrote:This link includes a copy of a response from DC Water to a user who sent in a protest of the increase to their water bill based on the impervious area recalculation, saying the rate increases are bring postponed.

https://groups.io/g/clevelandpark/topic/dc_water_puts_hold_on/117014620

So basically tried to pull a fast one on our customers. Got caught so will now have to be more deliberate in exercising our monopoly power.

This link includes a copy of a response from DC Water to a user who sent in a protest of the increase to their water bill based on the impervious area recalculation, saying the rate increases are bring postponed.

https://groups.io/g/clevelandpark/topic/dc_water_puts_hold_on/117014620

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email that they are pausing implementation.

Same. Guess they read DCUM. 😂

Did the email about the pause come as a general notification or was it in specific response to your asking about it? I just checked my email and did not see anything.

Anonymous wrote:Look at this: https://www.dcwater.com/sites/default/files/finance/rates/BudgetReviewDocs/Proposed%20FY%202025%20Budget.pdf

Per page 12, DC Water is budgeting $210 million in staff costs for 1,325 FTEs. That’s $158k per staff member. Yowza.

And then they’re spending another $100 million on contractors.

Their debt service is also $250 million (and projected to rise to $433 million by 2033), which is nuts.

The projected rate increases are on page 38. Things are only going to get worse.

I don’t know who or how, but someone - the next mayor? - needs to tear this whole boondoggle down and start anew.

Look at page 12 on personnel. The subtitle is: “ RETAIN AND ATTRACT THE BEST TALENT TO DELIVER SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE”.

Is that some kind of sick joke?

DC Water has some of the worst customer service I’ve ever encountered. A while back, I had an inflated bill, called them up, and was treated with absolute contempt by a customer service rep earning well into the six figures. Another time, I burst a tire on a broken sewer drain and was referred to a third-party administrator who denied the claim on the grounds that DC Water couldn’t have known about it (as if maintenance is beyond them).

The cold hard reality is that they could outsource their CS department to the Philippines and provide much better services to DC residents at a twentieth of the cost.

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Anonymous wrote:Let’s see Democrats in charge everywhere in DC. How do we extract more money from the masses in a way that will not arouse too much angst? Increase costs of basic utilities they can’t live without such as water and electricity.

You get the government and quasi government services you choose via elections.

I’m sorry, but this is just ignorant. DC Water is an independent agency with an appointed board that includes reps of neighboring counties. Trying to blame everything on a political party is kinda pathetic.

There is no such thing as an independent agency of the DC government. They exist in the same way that unicorns exist.

It’s not part of the DC government, period. Do some research, please.

1. The mayor appoints most of its board members who decide rates
2. Those appointments must be approved by the DC city council
3. The city council can pass laws that change how DC water operates
4. The city council can hold oversight hearings examining how DC water operates
5. The city council can demand information from DC water
6. DC water's budget is included in the city's budget

By the same logic, DCW is part of the government of Fairfax County.

There is no argument that the mayor and council could and should do more to rein in what is clearly an out-of-control agency.

But it’s also silly to imply that doing so is not manifestly more complex than sorting out actual agencies of the DC government such as DCPS and DPW.

Oh stop. The idea that the municipal water plant is somehow beyond the power of the mayor and the city council is absurd. They could fix this if they wanted to. They choose not to.

Oh how I wish the world was as simple as your understanding of it.

Look up the terms of the DC Water board, the requirements for removing them, the requirements for the Board removing the CEO, union protections for DC Water staff etc. etc. etc..

DC Water used to be an agency of the DC government. The federal government established it as an independent agency in 1996. The federal government, for better or worse, would likely take an interest were that independence compromised.

City council members have been known to complain to the CEO of DC Water on behalf of their constituents.

Yes. My council member complained to the CEO on my behalf. The CEO told the council member he would solve it and then him and his staff ignored every single piece of correspondence I sent trying to get the issue resolved.

DC Water is about as accountable to DC residents and their elected representatives as MWAA. Your council member won’t be much help either in doing something about the speed traps the MWAA PD set up along the Dulles Toll Road.

I absolutely want something done about DC Water. But trying to get the mayor or the council on the case is not going to move the needle one iota.

You might have noticed earlier in the year that these government authorities usually believe they are independent nations with no responsibility to anyone but themselves. USAID found out they weren't.

The DC CFO said last month that an unexpected increase in revenue will go to pay for health care for undocumented residents. So, here we are.

They have to spend the money somehow.

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Anonymous wrote:Let’s see Democrats in charge everywhere in DC. How do we extract more money from the masses in a way that will not arouse too much angst? Increase costs of basic utilities they can’t live without such as water and electricity.

You get the government and quasi government services you choose via elections.

I’m sorry, but this is just ignorant. DC Water is an independent agency with an appointed board that includes reps of neighboring counties. Trying to blame everything on a political party is kinda pathetic.

There is no such thing as an independent agency of the DC government. They exist in the same way that unicorns exist.

It’s not part of the DC government, period. Do some research, please.

1. The mayor appoints most of its board members who decide rates
2. Those appointments must be approved by the DC city council
3. The city council can pass laws that change how DC water operates
4. The city council can hold oversight hearings examining how DC water operates
5. The city council can demand information from DC water
6. DC water's budget is included in the city's budget

By the same logic, DCW is part of the government of Fairfax County.

There is no argument that the mayor and council could and should do more to rein in what is clearly an out-of-control agency.

But it’s also silly to imply that doing so is not manifestly more complex than sorting out actual agencies of the DC government such as DCPS and DPW.

Oh stop. The idea that the municipal water plant is somehow beyond the power of the mayor and the city council is absurd. They could fix this if they wanted to. They choose not to.

Oh how I wish the world was as simple as your understanding of it.

Look up the terms of the DC Water board, the requirements for removing them, the requirements for the Board removing the CEO, union protections for DC Water staff etc. etc. etc..

DC Water used to be an agency of the DC government. The federal government established it as an independent agency in 1996. The federal government, for better or worse, would likely take an interest were that independence compromised.

City council members have been known to complain to the CEO of DC Water on behalf of their constituents.

Yes. My council member complained to the CEO on my behalf. The CEO told the council member he would solve it and then him and his staff ignored every single piece of correspondence I sent trying to get the issue resolved.

DC Water is about as accountable to DC residents and their elected representatives as MWAA. Your council member won’t be much help either in doing something about the speed traps the MWAA PD set up along the Dulles Toll Road.

I absolutely want something done about DC Water. But trying to get the mayor or the council on the case is not going to move the needle one iota.

You might have noticed earlier in the year that these government authorities usually believe they are independent nations with no responsibility to anyone but themselves. USAID found out they weren't.

The DC CFO said last month that an unexpected increase in revenue will go to pay for health care for undocumented residents. So, here we are.

Pretty sure that if DC Water started cutting off drinking water to poor people who couldn't pay, our mayor and city council would "discover" some power that allowed them to do something about it.

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Anonymous wrote:Let’s see Democrats in charge everywhere in DC. How do we extract more money from the masses in a way that will not arouse too much angst? Increase costs of basic utilities they can’t live without such as water and electricity.

You get the government and quasi government services you choose via elections.

I’m sorry, but this is just ignorant. DC Water is an independent agency with an appointed board that includes reps of neighboring counties. Trying to blame everything on a political party is kinda pathetic.

There is no such thing as an independent agency of the DC government. They exist in the same way that unicorns exist.

It’s not part of the DC government, period. Do some research, please.

1. The mayor appoints most of its board members who decide rates
2. Those appointments must be approved by the DC city council
3. The city council can pass laws that change how DC water operates
4. The city council can hold oversight hearings examining how DC water operates
5. The city council can demand information from DC water
6. DC water's budget is included in the city's budget

By the same logic, DCW is part of the government of Fairfax County.

There is no argument that the mayor and council could and should do more to rein in what is clearly an out-of-control agency.

But it’s also silly to imply that doing so is not manifestly more complex than sorting out actual agencies of the DC government such as DCPS and DPW.

Oh stop. The idea that the municipal water plant is somehow beyond the power of the mayor and the city council is absurd. They could fix this if they wanted to. They choose not to.

Oh how I wish the world was as simple as your understanding of it.

Look up the terms of the DC Water board, the requirements for removing them, the requirements for the Board removing the CEO, union protections for DC Water staff etc. etc. etc..

DC Water used to be an agency of the DC government. The federal government established it as an independent agency in 1996. The federal government, for better or worse, would likely take an interest were that independence compromised.

City council members have been known to complain to the CEO of DC Water on behalf of their constituents.

Yes. My council member complained to the CEO on my behalf. The CEO told the council member he would solve it and then him and his staff ignored every single piece of correspondence I sent trying to get the issue resolved.

DC Water is about as accountable to DC residents and their elected representatives as MWAA. Your council member won’t be much help either in doing something about the speed traps the MWAA PD set up along the Dulles Toll Road.

I absolutely want something done about DC Water. But trying to get the mayor or the council on the case is not going to move the needle one iota.

Your city council member's next bill should be creating a new 99 percent income tax bracket on people who head municipal water authorities who make more than $100,000.