THE WATER BILL IS THE NEW RENT

On July 1, the city made water cost more again. The NYC Water Board approved a 6 percent increase on water and sewer rates. It is the sixth year in a row the number has gone up. Stack the last five years together and the line has climbed 35 percent. For an apartment, that lands as a few more dollars a month, the kind of thing you notice and forget. For a kitchen, it is a permanent markup on the one input an operator cannot shop around, cannot swap, and cannot cut down to nothing.