When Fredericksburg city staff came up with a new-tiered system for water and sewer billing earlier this spring, the intention was to shift a higher burden onto the 10% of users who account for 50% of the city’s water usage.
Those higher-volume users, defined in a staff memo as those who consume more than 25,000 gallons during a bi-monthly billing period, include industrial consumers and institutions such as hospitals.
But the unintended effect on another user category — apartment complexes — generated a lively discussion over equity during Tuesday’s city council work session.
Staff presented a hypothetical scenario in which a property owner with 150 apartment units would spread the added cost among its residents, who would see an increase of approximately $60 more per year than their counterparts living in single-family homes.
“That’s disrespectful,” posited Vice Mayor Chuck Frye Jr. (Ward 4).
“Well,” interjected Ward 2 Councilor Joy Crump, “it’s what’s going to happen.”
Sabrina Johnson, who represents the Fredericksburg NAACP, previously addressed that concern during an April 21 public hearing about the water and sewer rates. On Tuesday, Taylor Collins, who represents the NAACP’s legal redress committee, redoubled.
“Though unintended, this policy unfairly impacts vulnerable renters living in multi-family apartment housing,” Collins said. “While apartment complexes may be high-volume users on paper, in reality, they are collections of individual households, seniors and residents already struggling with housing affordability, where the rent burden is already severe.”
Collins also took issue with council’s stated plans to study the impact of the tiered system later this year.
“The responsibility is not to study the harm later while imposing it… the responsibility is to prevent the harm,” Collins said.
Council ultimately approved the new water and sewer fees by a 6-1 vote on second read, with Ward 1 Councilor Matt Rowe voting against. Rowe also voted against the resolution on first read, which Collins noted approvingly.
But other members of city council argued that while the equity concerns are real, the increases are needed to cover essential projects like the city’s new wastewater treatment plant, system improvements and $6.4 million of the city’s share of water treatment joint projects with Spotsylvania County.
“We don’t want to lose the forest for the trees here,” At-Large Councilor Will Mackintosh said. “For me, the forest is those big commercial and industrial users. We need to make sure that they’re paying their fair share for these critical infrastructure upgrades that we need moving forward.”
Also on Tuesday, councilors voted unanimously to approve its Fiscal Year 2027 budget and real estate tax rate.
The tax rate will be 84 cents per $100 of assessed value (85 cents including a one-cent fire levy), an increase of four cents from FY26.
