Fasbender references 10% water rate increase

Without outside funding, this is going to be a major burden to our residents.”

Mayor Mary Fasbender

Mayor Mary Fasbender and Rep. Tom Dippel (R-Cottage Grove) spoke before the House Capital Investment Committee on Thursday, Feb. 27 for state funding for PFAS water treatment plants within a future state bonding bill.
A state bonding bill has been one of main ways the city of Hastings has sought funding for PFAS water treatment plants (WTPs) even when one didn’t materialize from the 2024 legislative session. The lack of a bonding bill from last year, spurning the water rate increases that have already begun, was explicitly referenced by Mayor Fasbender: “This chair seems a little familiar because I was here a year ago requesting for the same dollars for our city.”
Mayor Fasbender and Rep. Dippel spoke before the committee asking for $16.6 million for the eastern WTP. While that amount is far from the total $68.9 million required to complete the three WTPs with an additional $1 million per year for maintenance, it “would at least get them on their way,” said Dippel. “I can’t emphasize enough how important this is.”
Fasbender presented the shovel-ready project as one that demanded assistance from beyond the city, calling it a “budget buster.” Fasbender spoke to the health impacts on the community, how it affects the young families the city is attempting to attract with pregnant women at specific risk from high levels of PFAS, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
“The hardship is when we get phone calls […] we have pregnant mothers who call and say ‘can I drink this water?’ ‘I have a handicapped child, should he be drinking this water?’” said Fasbender.
“Without outside funding, this is going to be a major burden to our residents,” said Fasbender referencing the 10% water rate increase that occurred Jan. 1, 2025, with a further increase of 10% expected in July. These rates are more burdensome on the community’s oldest residents who are often on a fixed income.
Were outside funding not secured by the city of Hastings, a current water bill of $80 would rise to $205 within the next four years, according to Fasbender.
Despite petitioning the House Capital Investment Committee for a spot in a future bonding bill, Dippel emphasized that he had “explored extensively other avenues of funding,” rather than solely relying on a potential bonding bill.
Rep. Dippel currently has two bills that seek to pay for Hastings WTPs using other sources of funding. Those bills are H.F. 348 and H.F. 1682. The first bill, H.F. 348 seeks to force the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to transfer $45.7 million from the 3M settlement fund to Hastings in order to pay for WTPs.
The other bill, H.F. 1682, was announced at a Feb/ 17 press conference in Hastings City Hall. The bill would appropriate $45.7 million from the Clean Water Fund, one of several funds created from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, to Hastings. According to Dippel, because at least 5% of the Clean Water Fund must be spent to protect drinking water sources, it would be eligible to be diverted to Hastings.
A bonding bill is far from certain in the 2025 legislative session. That uncertainty hasn’t stopped both Hastings’ legislators from submitting bills that would allocate funds from a future bonding bill to pay for the construction of WTPs. In addition, both Rep. Dippel and Sen. Judy Seeberger (D-Afton) have submitted bills that would allocate funds to the city of Hastings directly from the general fund.