With rising water utility bills in the city of Astoria, thanks to the federally mandated combined sewer overflow project that will cost $40 million when completed in 2020, residents may be wondering just how high their bills will go.

But Councilman Drew Herzig has suggested a minimum of $10,000 in a fund to assist low-income residents having trouble paying those charges.

A public hearing on the proposed fund will be held Aug. 19.

I want to propose that the city create a fund starting with a minimum of $10,000 to assist people who are experiencing hardships in paying their water and sewer rates, Herzig said. Very many Astorians are fixed income, low income, and this is creating a hardship for them.

In June, the Astoria City Council approved raising the water and sewer bills by 2 percent. A sewer surcharge to pay back the debt for the CSO project was increased by 4 percent.

That adjustment is specifically tied to debt service payments that we have to make for funds borrowed to do this work, City Manager Paul Benoit said at the time. As an example, the work underway right now is a $7 million project. We are not obligated to pay on the funds borrowed for that until the project is completed. So in the next fiscal year, well be calculating the debt service and proposing another adjustment to pay that debt.

The surcharge, which now totals $26.57, will cease to increase after the project is completed in 2020, but will continue at that rate for an additional 10 years until the debts are repaid. But, the city stressed during the last discussion, the water and sewer costs in Astoria are still less than the cities of Cannon Beach, Seaside and Warrenton.

Herzig said he had talked with George Sabol, the director of Clatsop Community Action, who has agreed to administer the program if the city eventually approved it. This would eliminate extra staff work at the city level, Herzig said.