Proposition Y on the Aug. 5 primary ballot asks city and county voters how they’d like to pay for $275 million worth of repairs and upgrades to their sewers: With cash up front or by spreading the payments out over 20 or 30 years?
Make no mistake: The work will be done, and the money will be spent. Courts have ruled that MSD bills are “fees” not “taxes” and are not subject to Missouri’s Hancock Amendment, which requires voter approval of tax increases. The only question is how they want to pay, not whether.
A yes vote on Prop Y will authorize MSD to issue bonds, backed by sewer fees, to cover the cost of the repairs. If voters approve, the average homeowner will pay $2.99 more a month in sanitary sewer charges by 2011. If they reject the measure, monthly bills will jump by $11.05.

MSD has embarked on a five-year, $662 million project to partially modernize an ancient sewer system that dumps raw sewage into our streams every time it rains hard. Parts of the system date to the 1850s. Some areas of downtown St. Louis still have sewer lines made of wood.
MSD also wants to ease drainage problems in the suburbs, such as a wandering creek that threatens to swallow houses in the Pepperdine subdivision in southwest St. Louis County.
Originally, MSD opted for a pay-as-you-go scheme in which rates would rise quickly but avoid the interest payments that come with borrowing. Business groups protested, as did the AARP, representing older people, and the anti-poverty group ACORN.
So the agency opted instead to ask voters for permission to borrow part of the money and spread the payments over 20 or 30 years. In effect, the plan would pass part of the cost on to our children. Depending on how long it takes to pay off the bonds, the interest charges would add $147 million to $227 million to the cost of the project.
Borrowing for short-term needs usually is not a good idea. Borrowing for long-term infrastructure needs is different. If the system is built correctly, our children and grandchildren will be using MSD’s system when they’re grown.

Before the repair program started, sanitary sewer rates averaged $22.38 for that mythical average homeowner. In January, the rates jumped to $25.74. If the bond issue is approved, they’ll go to $28.73 by 2011. If the bond issue fails, they’ll go to $36.79.
Remember: The sanitary sewer charge, for handling waste water, is only one part of the sewer bill. The second part is the storm sewer charge, for handling rainfall, and those fees went up this year, too. The old flat fee of 24 cents per customer was changed to a system that bills customers based on how much of their property is “impermeable surface.” The average residential customer now is paying $3 a month for storm water service.
It’s true that MSD has a history of cost overruns on construction jobs and that MSD’s rate commission is heavily influenced by the construction industry. Its interests don’t always coincide with those of the average citizen.
Still, the system needs an upgrade badly. Dumping sewage into the river is not acceptable. We’ll have to pay for it, and so will our grandchildren. Vote YES on Proposition Y.