The first of four public hearings over Baltimore’s plan to increase water and sewer rates is still more than one week away — Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Baltimore Police Department’s Northwest District station to be exact — but we can already make a modest prediction regarding the tone and tenor of the gathering: People will not be happy. How could they be? The Baltimore City Department of Public Works is seeking 3% (water) and 15% (sewer) rate increases that would go into effect on Feb. 1 followed by big hikes in the following two fiscal years as well. For a typical residential user, it could mean $30-$40 more per month.

For some Baltimoreans, this may be a minor matter. For others, there may be opportunities to get help like the city’s “Water4All” program that provides direct financial assistance or for others “PromisePay” that allows customers flexible payment terms. But we are guessing that many who are neither affluent nor impoverished will view this as burdensome and unfair. Many will recall the days when water and sewer service was a minor household expense. And, on this subject, Comptroller Bill Henry offered an important observation when the matter was discussed by the Baltimore Board of Estimates on Dec. 18.

“Instead of thinking of the ‘good old days’ when water was cheap, they need to think of them as the ‘bad old days’ where we weren’t paying what we should have been so that we can keep up with proactive maintenance of our system,” Henry observed.

This is the classic case of being penny-wise but pound-foolish. Or to put it more directly: You can pay for needed infrastructure and government services now or you can pay a lot more later. That’s a thought that deserves to be posted not just in the halls of City Hall but in the State House in Annapolis and in the U.S. Capitol.

Baltimore, like many other U.S. cities, has had to deal with long-term economic decline worsened by concentrated poverty, drug addiction and racism. In such challenging financial circumstances, the temptation to reduce costs by letting relatively minor problems go (not replacing aging water lines but patching them instead) is substantial. Yet what happens as a result? Not much immediately but years later, what started as a small leak can develop into a gushing river.

That might be an oversimplification but not by much. And it’s a lesson that transcends Baltimore’s underground conduits or its pollution-spewing Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Know what else worsens with neglect? Well, other forms of infrastructure like pothole-strewn streets, of course. But what about human investment, too? An individual who can’t afford health insurance doesn’t get checkups but ends up in a hospital emergency room when a full-blown health crisis emerges. Similarly, drug addiction may worsen when there’s inadequate support for treatment centers or outreach. Juvenile crime? The same can happen. And public education may be the most frustrating of all: Lose the chance to educate a youngster in the formative years and end up with an adult who will struggle economically for decades.

And so as much as we would encourage Baltimore residents to pay attention to their water and sewer bills and the demonstrable need for greater investment, we hope this is also a teachable moment. As local governments including Baltimore’s mayor and city council, Gov. Wes Moore and members of the Maryland General Assembly, as well as incoming members of Congress and soon-to-be President Donald Trump look to reduce government spending, they need to be cautious not to fall into this very trap.

Cutting wasteful spending is great but too often it’s illusory. Lowering taxes is great, too, but not if it means future generations are stuck with ever-larger debts to pay. Sometimes, unpopular choices need to be made. The mistake is to make these choices thoughtlessly or merely to cater to short-term public whim. Real leadership is about looking to the future and protecting one’s assets, capital and human, so we don’t look back at the new year as more of the “bad old days.”