Montgomery Backs a 7% Ceiling on Next Year's WSSC Water Rates, While Prince George's Set 5%
The two counties that share WSSC Water have opened the utility's budget season on different numbers again: Montgomery County's council voted for a 7 percent maximum rate increase for fiscal 2028, and Prince George's County set its ceiling at 5 percent.
Montgomery County is backing a 7 percent ceiling on next year's WSSC Water rate increase, while Prince George's County has approved 5 percent. The Montgomery County Council voted 11-0 on Tuesday, October 27, to set a 7.0 percent maximum average rate increase for fiscal 2028, which starts July 1, 2027. The Prince George's County Council adopted its 5.0 percent ceiling on October 20, on a 6-0 vote with five members absent.
The two-point gap is worth about $22 million a year to the utility that serves both counties, and it is the third year in a row the two councils have started WSSC's budget season on different numbers. For the utility's average residential customer - a three-person household using 145 gallons a day - the council staff figures put a 5 percent increase at $18.58 more per quarter, and a 7 percent increase at $21.68 more per quarter, with each additional point worth about $3.10 per quarter.
The fall ceilings are guidance, not the final word. They tell WSSC Water how to build its budget request, and the councils vote together on the final budget and rates in mid-May 2027. WSSC is due to release its proposed fiscal 2028 budget for public comment by January 15, 2027. Council staff cited rising debt service, maintenance and operating costs, aging water and sewer mains, and new lead-reduction and PFAS rules among the pressures behind the increase, along with water use that has stayed essentially flat for 30 years even as the population served grew by nearly 40 percent.
