That may not sound like a lot, but it will cut into the car wash owner's bottom line and he won't be alone.
Under a proposal the Water Department submitted to City Council late Friday, all residents and businesses in the city could see their water costs increase an average of 6.5 percent per year for the next four years.
"I'm surprised, seeing how they just implemented some increases and my rates did go up," said Stacey James of Overbrook.
For the average family, that comes out to a monthly increase of $3.52 in 2013, $3.76 in 2014, $4.36 in 2015 and $4.75 in 2016.That's also up $42 to $57 per year over the current cost.
"The Water Department is a cost-of-service utility. It means that we don't make a profit, but we need to recover our revenue costs, what it costs for us to operate, to provide safe drinking water, and clean wastewater," said Joanne Dahme.
When presented with the proposal, Councilman Jim Kenney worried about the impact the increases would have on families already under economic stress.
"We're kind of the board of directors of this company called the City of Philadelphia. We need to make sure that we're not making people's lives worse by just raising rates," he said.
The rate hikes are not a done deal just yet. There will be a number of public meetings over several months but with the department's history things will likely go in their favor.
