Bill would let utilities offer loans to replace lead lines

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - People who want to replace lead service lines into their homes and businesses could seek loans from utilities under a proposal in the Wisconsin Senate.

The bill from GOP Sen. Robert Cowles would give homeowners a possible pathway to finance expensive replacements that can run as much as $5,000. Cowles’ bill would let municipalities grant water utilities the authority to offer financing to customers.

Concerns over lead in water have grown nationally as Flint, Michigan, has struggled with its water supply. At least 176,000 customers in Wisconsin have lead service lines, with about half in Milwaukee County. Lead particles that flake off into water running through the lines can cause brain damage to young children.

“We’re trying to give more authority to water utilities to utilize the resources they have,” said Cowles, who chairs the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee.

Under the proposal, water utilities could offer financing to customers in a variety of forms, including low-interest or no-interest loans, customer cost-sharing or an income threshold for qualifications.

Utilities and municipalities said Cowles’ bill was a step in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough.

Residents in places like Milwaukee - where 70,000 homes or businesses have lead service lines - have pushed back against proposals that leave some of the burden of paying for the expensive replacement to them. In Green Bay, which includes some of Cowles’ district, about 4,000 homes have lead service lines.

Democratic Sen. LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee said the plan shifts the burden to taxpayers when the state should be helping municipalities more.

Johnson, whose own home is served by a lead line, called the bill “a small Band-Aid for a gaping wound.”

“When does it become a big enough issue that our government says, ’This is something that needs to be done and we’re going to do it at all costs’?” she said.

Last year, the Department of Natural Resources allocated $14.5 million to poor communities to fund lead service line replacements. But Cowles said many communities didn’t qualify for that funding.

The proposal would leave it to municipalities and utilities to decide how much assistance to provide, but Green Bay Water Utility General Manager Nancy Quirk said utilities are limited by the fact that they can’t easily raise rates to fund financing programs, an issue the bill doesn’t address.

Curt Witynski, assistant director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said the bill could help. But municipalities want water utilities to be able to get approval from the PSC for rate increases to fund financing programs, he said.

Cowles’ proposal would only apply to cases where the municipality has already replaced or plans to replace its portion of the lead service line. Utilities could not fund financing programs with revenue generated from increases in customer rate payments without permission from the Public Service Commission but could use other sources of money without approval, according to Cowles’ spokeswoman Toni Herkert.

“Some people are saying ’well, we could go further,’” Cowles said of his proposal. “But we might not get it passed. I think I can get this passed.”

___

Follow Cara Lombardo on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CaraRLombardo