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Portland Commissioner Nick Fish oversees both the water and sewer bureaus. He wants to keep the combined bill increase at or below 5 percent, according to city documents.

(Randy Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

Portland water and sewer customers should expect a combined bill increase of about 5 percent beginning in July, according to city documents.

Rates won’t be formally set by the City Council until May, but 2014-15 budget requests due Feb. 3 are expected to include another round of hikes.

Last year, the average single-family water bill jumped 3.6 percent, to $27.61 a month. This year, the Portland Water Bureau is looking at an increase of 7 percent or 7.1 percent, according to documents from the bureau's budget advisory committee.



Sewer and stormwater bills, meanwhile, last year jumped 5.3 percent, to $62.74 per month. This year, the Bureau of Environmental Services is looking at an increase of about 4.85 percent, according to documents from the bureau's budget advisory committee.



Taken together, the bill increased by 4.8 percent last year. This year’s target is about the same, at 5 percent or less.

At a recent budget advisory committee meeting, Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff explained that Commissioner Nick Fish – who oversees both utility bureaus – is focused on that 5 percent target.

"David reported that it is likely that BES will propose a rate increase of 4% to 5% and the combined water/sewer bill increase would be close to the 5% increase requested by Commissioner Fish," according to minutes from the Jan. 8 meeting. "There is the possibility that some additional adjustments by the Bureau will have to be made to the Water Bureau budget to reach the 5% target."

Annual rate hikes have fueled controversy over Portland’s water and sewer bureaus.

On Tuesday, Portlanders for Water Reform submitted a signed initiative petition to strip away utility oversight from the City Council. Voters will likely weigh in on the proposal in May.



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-- Brad Schmidt