the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Dec 16, 2024
The administration of Mayor Brandon Scott announced a 15% increase in water and sewer bills for 2025, and a 9% increase in each of the years 2026 and 2027. That’s 33% higher—actually more, due to compounding. The administration mentions that in 2022 and 2023, the rates only went up 3%. This bragging ignores the 9% increases each year from 2016 to 2021, adding up to 56% more, and not including previous increases.
In other words, AGAIN the bills have almost doubled for water and sewer, in an area with some of the worst poverty in the state of Maryland. In addition, Baltimore’s sewer system still backs up into houses, more than 20 years after a consent decree was signed between the city and the EPA. The estimate for repairing such disasters is $6,000 per house. And where are the most back-ups recorded? In three of the poorest areas of Baltimore, almost entirely black and with an average annual household income of $34,000.
But yet, the city finds money to pay private contractors to “fix” the horrible water and sewer pipes. The contractors can pay minimum wage to some workers and make a nice profit. The politicians also propose to give yet another developer more funding—is it for the Inner Harbor? No, that was last year’s promised money. This year it is to develop the empty Old Town mall near downtown.
A water system built in 1905 still serves the city and surrounding county residents poorly more than 100 years later. Credit goes to a heck of a lot of Democratic Party politicians.