The Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) on Wednesday approved a new five-year sewer agreement with the Jefferson County Commission and a self-governance policy that will require additional training for board members.

The sewer agreement, approved by a vote of 7-2, will now go to the Jefferson County Commission for discussion in their next meeting on April 20. If the commission approves the agreement, Jefferson County sewer customers could see their rates increase up to 5.8% starting Jan. 1, 2024, according to BWWB General Manager Michael Johnson.

During this week’s meeting Johnson said the new agreement offers future projections for the county’s sewer debt payment plan with possible rate increases of 4.9% or 5.8% next year. That would raise the average customer’s bill between two and three dollars each month, he said.

Both of the projected increases Johnson mentioned are higher than the 3.5% annual increase for the period after 2018, which was previously agreed upon in the 2013 bankruptcy agreement signed by Jefferson County and U.S. Bankruptcy Clerk Scott Ford. That 10-year-old agreement followed the county filing for what was then the largest and most expensive municipal bankruptcy in American history in November 2011.

Following the meeting this week, representatives from the commission and the utility will also look into the “potential benefits” of automatic meters, according to a press release.