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To: Toledo
City Councilpersons
Re:
Support for Resolution Affirming the city of Toledo’s
commitment to equitable access to clean, safe, and
affordable water
From: United Pastors for Social Empowerment
Date: November 22, 2019
Dear City Councilpersons,
As the City of Toledo moves to increase its
retail rates for water services in Toledo and Lucas County,
the United Pastors for Social Empowerment (UPSE) draws your
attention to the impact of this development on our
community’s most vulnerable residents. Access to water is a
human right, but sadly many Toledoans face the difficult
choice of paying for medicine and groceries or a bill for
essential water services. As a monopolistic provider of
water, Toledo bears an exigent responsibility to these
families.
UPSE writes now to ask that the City of
Toledo please pass the Resolution proposed by Councilperson
Komives to take certain steps to address water
affordability. UPSE respects that the City has recently
developed an initial proposal for affordability programs and
lead-line replacement, but a great deal remains to be
determined in how these programs will function, and what
additional steps the City will take to address this issue.
Undoubtedly, the committee the Resolution
creates will play an important role in determining these
programs and ensuring appropriate consumer protections.
Looking ahead, UPSE hopes that programs ensuring
affordability and improvements to consumer protections can
be codified in Toledo’s Municipal Code.
UPSE also wishes to emphasize its
appreciation for the City’s efforts to meet with various
community groups, including UPSE and respond to these
issues.
To illustrate the importance of equitable
access to water services, UPSE provides the following
information based on recently obtained data on accounts
scheduled for shut-off of water services.
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Over the past six months alone, Toledo scheduled
nearly 3,000 accounts for shut-off, though not all of these
accounts were ultimately shut off.
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Most of the accounts scheduled for shut-off are
clustered in central-city neighborhoods.
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Accounts scheduled for shut-off are often clustered
in low-income areas with renter-occupied housing, showing
the impact on tenants in central-city neighborhoods.
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Scheduled water shut-offs are also concentrated in
minority neighborhoods—census tracts with less than 50
percent white alone and not Hispanic.
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Accounts scheduled for shut-off concentrate in areas
that have been historically disinvested. Scheduled shut-offs
correspond closely with the 1938 Home Owners Loan
Corporation Residential Security “Redlining” Map.
Conclusion
Specifically, UPSE strongly supports SECTION 2 of
the resolution:
That the City of Toledo hereby creates a Water
Affordability and Consumer Protection Committee, and commits
that, through this Committee, it will take the following
actions to address water affordability and consumer
protections:
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Complete a study to provide recommendations targeted to
address long-term equitable affordability of water in
Toledo retail water system;
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Where appropriate, the committee shall make
recommendations to the Department of Public Utilities on
retail rate setting and consumer programs related to
water and wastewater delivery based on research and data
collected through an affordability study;
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Share data and information about retail water services
including shut-offs;
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Review current policies to improve access to water
services for tenants and homeowners and protect
consumers;
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Develop measurable affordability benchmarks based on
data to inform the decision making process for future
rate setting and changes to consumer programs;
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Create a community engagement and feedback process to
inform and develop affordable water rates and water
programs; and
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Effectively communicate, to the best of its ability, all
information regarding rates and programs to the
community.
UPSE again thanks the Administration for its recent
efforts to address affordability and looks forward to
continued work and collaboration through the committee
formed through Councilperson Nick Komives’s Resolution. We
ask that all Councilpersons please vote in favor of the
Resolution.
Rev. Donald Perryman, PhD, United Pastors for Social
Empowerment
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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