WSSC Water told the Prince George’s County Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee on Thursday that its proposed fiscal year 2027 budget would be shaped by rising debt-service costs, increased regional sewage fees and higher energy and healthcare expenses.

The agency presented two revenue scenarios — a “base case” that assumes a 6% revenue enhancement and an alternate scenario that assumes a 7% increase — and said it has targeted a 5% reduction to baseline operating budgets as it prepares a proposal the council must act on by Nov. 1.

“The bottom line upfront is that, preparing the proposed fiscal year 20 27 budget, we make cuts to the baseline budget 5%,” said Keisha Powell, general manager and CEO of WSSC Water. Powell said the utility also reduced discretionary departmental spending by 8%, yielding $27,000,000 in cuts.

Why it matters: WSSC Water serves the county’s water and sewer customers and operates a capital program that local officials say is critical to public health and resiliency. The utility’s choices on balancing pay-as-you-go funding, bond issuance and operational cuts will influence service reliability, customer rates and the pace of repairs to aging mains and treatment facilities.

The utility’s overview included these headline numbers and decisions for FY2027:
- Proposed capital program: $759,300,000 for FY2027; the four‑year capital plan totals about $4.83 billion. Chief Engineer Alan Wong said the FY2027 capital request includes 219 projects already underway totaling roughly $231,000,000 and 88 new projects expected to launch in 2027 totaling about $202,000,000.
- Budget containment: The utility targeted a 5% reduction below the FY2026 approved baseline and an 8% reduction in discretionary departmental budgets, with $27,000,000 in discretionary savings identified.
- Revenue scenarios: Two working-draft scenarios were shown — a base case with a 6% revenue enhancement and an alternate with a 7% enhancement (the 7% scenario increases PayGo by about $5,000,000 and creates a roughly $5,600,000 contingency relief fund).
- Major cost drivers: debt service (noted as the single largest operating line), regional sewage disposal (WSSC pays roughly 43% of flow to the Blue Plains facility), heat/light/power, negotiated collective bargaining increases and employee health care. CFO Annette Tempti Msyra said, “we have marked these as working drafts and later slides have indicators that these numbers are still moving and under review.”

The utility emphasized that it is a cost‑recovery, not‑for‑profit organization: revenues from customers are returned to operations and capital. Powell said WSSC has focused on making the minimum wage a living wage and that more than 40% of its workforce lives in the service area.

On capital priorities, WSSC described a shift to reliability and resilience investments — including spending to strengthen power systems at facilities and targeted funding for basement‑backup mitigation in areas such as Lanham. Powell said some increases in the FY2027 request reflect a need to address wastewater collection infrastructure approaching the end of useful life; Wong said the wastewater collection program shows a roughly 20% increase.

Council response and next steps: Committee members asked detailed questions about the utility’s debt mix and the role of federal funding in past and future projects. Powell and Msyra told the committee that WSSC’s FY2027 plan expects about $133,000,000 in loans identified for FY2027 that are currently approved and not at immediate risk, but noted uncertainty for future federal funding streams. The committee did not take any action; the record shows this briefing was informational only.

Outcome: No action was taken at the committee meeting. The county will take up a formal spending‑affordability resolution for WSSC before the Nov. 1 deadline.

What to watch: The council’s spending‑affordability resolution and any requested revenue enhancement will determine the allowable limit for WSSC’s operating budget and inform later rate considerations. WSSC officials said they plan to prioritize capital work that reduces the system’s vulnerabilities while managing customer affordability.