Sewer bills could rise
in Marion County

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Sewer bills in Marion County may be on the rise in the next few years. Thursday night is the first of a series of public meetings to discuss the reasons behind the spike.

Marion County officials say this has been a long time coming and will help clean the sewers.

"With the economic crisis that's going on right now I don't think that the sewer bill going up would be fair to everybody," said Derek Conrad, Indianapolis.

A possible 50% hike in sewer bills over the next 5 years is not on the books yet, but it could be soon.

"It's just one more thing," said Karen Taylor, Indianapolis.

One more thing for some, a big thing for the Department of Public Works who says the problem is overflow.

"On the average year we get 49 inches of rainfall a year. That means about 6 billion gallons of sewage going to the river," said Stephen Nielson, DPW.

He says the plan is all about the quality of life.

"We're going to be stopping those overflows, cleaning up the streams getting the fish life back making it healthy for kids to be down there if they want to play in it and then, of course, making sure that the neighborhoods don't stink because when it overflows it smells," said Nielson.

DPW says right now most Marion County residents pay almost $18 a month for their sewer bill. If approved that number could be around 27 bucks a month by the year 2013.