sure, go ahead...it's not like we're recovering from a recession right? grrrrr, will this also solve the bleach taste it recently acquired? hopefully the comission quickly shoots this idea down.

28%?? Are they SERIOUS?? I'd ALSO like to point out that infrastructure improvements are a "cost of doing business". This wouldn't even be an ISSUE if it weren't a monopoly....if there were competing companies vying for our support!!
Personally, I think MAW should learn to be a bit more conservative and live with what they have....the same as everyone else!!

28%!!! Get a life, MAW!!! What a money-grubbine bunch of dweebs!!

If the PSC allows this, I am buying a 500 gal poly water tank, and catch rain water from the gutters, strain it through screen wire, and plumb it to the bathrooms for flushing the toilets. With us Old people, I bet this will cut our consumption by 50%. We already drink bottled water because their water is not fit for human consumption, I don't even let my DOG drink it !!!! How SAD !

Yet another utility hike...what do they care, they're not paying it?? Geez.

And this sewer bill thing is out of hand too, it is calculated by the amount of Water we use, but the sewer bill is MORE than the water bill, they say that water averages 1 penny per gallon, so they must charge a penny and a half per gallon of consumption for the sewer,,,, 28% increase when social security people are getting 0% cost of living, These morons built this 14 million dollar water plant and screwed ALL of their customers, and the water has NOT been fit to DRINK every since, if you make Coffee, there's an OIL SLICK on top of the pot ! Does anyone remember when water bill was QUARTERLY, and it was less per Quarter than it NOW is per month, and that was NOT that many years ago, and they have us by the ASS, because we can not use our Well water, or septic tanks inside the City Limits,,, kind of like Insider Trading,, Huh? Well NEWS FLASH MoAmWater, People are going to start Bowing their Necks at your GREED !!!!!

Watch and mark my words, they ALWAYS ask for 50% more than they actually want, and they know that everyone will get upset, so when they actually get a 14% increase, they got what they originally wanted, and customers are so happy that they didn't get the 28% that they are happy to let it slide. Damn Sneaky Ain't it ?
Let's look at ALL of their raises historically and we can positively verify my theory. It needs to STOP here people, after all, the stuff (water) falls out of the SKY, for FREE, follow my lead, and Let's START using it !! A Poly tank is cheap, a small pump with a pressure switch, and you can flush your toilets for FREE !!!!!!

They want a increase and our water is worse then it was when we got it fro mthe old plant on the river.
Look at your coffeee when you make a pot it has had a oil slick on it every since the new plant opened.
Also rememeber we got a hugh increase when they biult the new plant,the cost of it was passed onto us the customer and we got worse water from them.
Remember water bills used to be low and we paid our bills every 3 months then they raised it so high they changed our billing cycle to every month and it cost for one month what it used to cost for 3 months and now they want more.I say get our water cleaner and where people can drink it then talk to us about a increase.

Now I have the answer for the SJSD. What they have to do is to get themselves declared as a utility and then they can just buy some support and get whatever they want. Imagine school board massage chairs at board meetings and maybe even trips to the Bahamas for meetings instead of that "cheap" trip to Tan-Rar-A.

Oops, my bad. I meant Tan-Tar-A.

Again?? Already?? With the last increase our bill went from about $38/mo to $54/mo. Instead of bleach, what will it taste like now? We're looking into buying an at-the-sink drinking water purifier priced from $400 to $1230 so we can drink water that we're already paying WAY TOO MUCH for anyhow! Sheesh!

one post said we could not use well water in the city limits? i know a family that does and i don't think there is anything they can do about it. they have pumped well water there for as long as they have lived there and they are still on a cistern. they have no water or sewer bill. somebody is mistaken when they said that unless they are breaking the city law. i don't think so.

as for the rest of us , were just screwed.

Oh boy, ANOTHER rate increase!!! What great timing too, unemployment at an all time high, winter coming along with high heat bills, gasoline price taking another akyrocketing jump, and NOW all the hullabaloo over the ridiculous national health care fiasco.....

Oh well, now I won't have to worry about what to do with an extra dollar or two from my paycheck, there won't be any extra....

The PSC is doing nothing for St. Joe customers. They excluded other MoAm service areas from paying for the St. Joe water plant, although, St. Joe users had to help pay for other plants. Then they allowed the increase to tacked on forever. So once the plant was paid for, we are still paying extra on our bill for the plant.

Here are some math details:

cost 72,000,000.00 (PSC figures the lower cost)
number of users 32,000.00 (direct bill customers only, does not include the total of all water district users)

add 50% for financing 36,000,000.00 (you know they didn't string it out)
total with financing 108,000,000.00
cost per customer 3,375.00
annual cost over 10 years 337.50
monthly cost 28.13

If paid for over 20 years, the monthly cost would have been an average of $14.07: thirty years would $9.38 per customer. The reality is that we have already paid for the plant, yet we are still being charged for that. The water company is already receiving revenues that are way above what they should be

Missouri-American should be made to show exactly what they say they improved in the South East part of town. Was that the business park along Riverside? Who actually paid for that (I'll bet it wasn't MoAm, they don't pay for the extensions into new development).

A few years ago, prior to the new plant and when David Jones was still mayor (I believe), Kansas City offered to provide our water for us. They were going to construct a main that would have brought water to us. The cost was probably half of what the new plant was going to be. Why did the mayor and council at that time decide against that?

Rural users even get more of a screwing. MoAM is allowed to charge them more, since MoAm has to take care of all that extra water line. Wait a minute there, rural water districts are responsible for their own lines and they get their water from points already inside MoAm's service area, in most cases inside the city. There is no cost above what they are already incurring.

If the PSC screws us again, then the area legislators have a lot of explaining to do.

Great timing, with the school levy election set for Tuesday. Does Jeff Roe control the filing schedule for Missouri-American? And when Missouri-American talks of the "average bill," I am reminded of the Garrison Keillor comment, "Lake Woebegon, where all the children are above average," or words to that effect. No one I've talked with has an average bill as low as the one cited.

ApparentlySo,, where did the $72 Million figure come from?
I heard the new plant was $14 Mil. If your figure is correct, they allowed some EXTREMELY inflated Bids do most of the work, but That don't surprise me either. They Probably told us it cost $72 Mil, and it was actually $14 Mil., anyway, they need to tighten their belt Just like the rest of us. And to the person who knows people using their Well, I don't doubt you, they Grand Fathered in and were using it before City Water was available to them, unfortunately, for ME, I have only owned this house for 30 years, and the previous owners had already accepted the city water offer,, The Damn Fools,,,,
My Plan is as I stated,,,, Poly Tanks Leading to Bathrooms with small pump, for flushing that should help MY bill a Lot, but I STILL don't want to pay 28% MORE for the water that I DO use!!! They better be careful, in another state the water Company got a BIG raise and there was a group of people going around for MONTHS, opening Fire Hydrants, ALL over town, first one end, then the other, they lost MILLIONS of gallons of water before it stopped, and they Never did Catch Me,,,, I mean Him !!!!! LOL

I can tell you they did nothing to improve our water in the southeast side of town so I do not know what the water company did our water is still lousy.Not only is it lousy we have a oil slick on top of our water you can see partical floating in it.We no longer use it for consumption just baths which you wonder if it is safe at times and washing cloths and the dishwasher.I know when we fill the pool in the late spring and start to get it ready it takes all kinds of chemicals to get it treated and stable.Like I said in my other post our water was actually better when it came from the old plant.

How about the water lines that are over 100 years oldand sme still lead whih is ilegeal by federal law.And making proper repaires to meter service.My line tap verifyed by MO. AMERICAN was put in in 1906.when they up dated the meter they had to hot change it because they could not find a shut off and later when aseal started leakingon thier side of the meter they had to do it the same way as they could not find a shut off in my yard. To my knowlage this has never been corrected.

My water bill continues to be above average. There are two people in my household and my bill "averages" nearly $80 a month. Who gets these low water bills, the homeless people living under the bridge on the river?

I used my pool chlorine test kit and found a higher percentage of bleach in my water than in my pool.

Lets see here, out of my total bill of $59.82, "only" $36.94 was for actual bleach, I mean water charges and wastewater charges, that leaves $22.88 left unaccounted for. I have a "customer charge" of 8.95 for water, and 13.46 for wastewater, hell, that's almost as much as the water bill itself! Please tell me why it is that this company is charging me just to be a customer!!! I guess that extra $22.88 is for the wonderful Clorox taste, which needless to say, is worth double that amount. I feel that I'm actually saving money on mouthwash since I'm confident that the bleach I drink is killing all the germs in my mouth anyway. So where in the hell is the company that doesn't charge me just for being a customer?

P.S. I also believe they should supply you with a packet of KY with every bill, just so it doesn't hurt as bad.

Every time I turn around every one has their hand out, now it's the water company in which I can barely afford now,try living in county. On $8.95 dollars actuall water used by the time they tack on everything they can find a bill for three of us will be over a 100.00 dollars. I have the bills to prove, everyone gripes and sounds off, but no one tries to do anything I took this matter to my City Councelman {one I had voted for, because I thought I knew him to be fair and just} and his response was and I qoute" MOVE TO THE CITY" and should I mention that as a Senoir Citezen who only gets $865.00 amonth I am streched to the limt as another 8.5% raise will mean the difference between the light, gas or water, or none,{ and dont tell me that there are programs out there to help us "BECAUSE THEY SHOULDNT BE ALLOWED TO GOUGE THE PUBLIC" and we shouldnt need that assistance month after month, and dont ask for them to work with you, It's either pay their Hyway robbery money or they shut you off asap, god forbid don't forget to pay it they are right out to shut off, then they want more than the water bill to turn it back on, I am so sick and tired of these fat cat company's getting rich at my expence

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/st_joseph/

Here is one reference. I just remember it being 72 million and the PSC only allowing 60 something million.

I'm guessing the other improvements the article talks about must be the wells and piping that had to be constructed when the plan was built.