PORT ANGELES — City Council members will reconsider proposed increases in 2015 utility rates at a Tuesday work session after voting against them earlier this week.
The work session will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
The proposed 2015 rate hikes would have increased residential ratepayers’ average annual bills to $182.16 and average commercial annual bills to $190.92 for electricity, water and wastewater utilities.
After hearing objections to the rate hike, the council voted 4-2 against Councilman Brad Collins’ motion to approve the increases.
But council members decided that rather than completely discard the plan, they will go over it again for possible passage later this fall.
A 2015 rate hike would impose the first of five years of increases planned by the city, although the ordinance under consideration covers only hikes proposed for next year.
Specific future increases beyond then were not discussed by city staff or council members at the Tuesday meeting at which the ordinance was voted down.
Collins and Deputy Mayor Patrick Downie voted for the motion, while council members Lee Whetham, Cherie Kidd, Sissi Bruch and Dan Gase voted against it. Mayor Dan Di Guilio was out of town.
Solid waste rate increases for 2015 already have been approved.
They will increase average residential monthly rates by 5.45 percent, or $1.11, to $21.46, and average commercial rates by 10.75 percent, or $2.89, to $29.78.
A policy to make the cost-of-service utility adjustments was unanimously recommended for approval by the six-member city Utility Advisory Committee (UAC), which includes Whetham, Bruch and Gase.
All voted for the recommendation, which included proposed percentage increases and the monthly monetary impact on ratepayers.
The plan with rates survived a first reading and public hearing that lasted less than five minutes at the council’s Sept. 2 meeting.
But that changed Tuesday, as Kidd and Whetham expressed reservations about the increases and eight residents spoke out against them during a public hearing.
“This will only impose more hardship on our residents who live here,” Judi Hangartner told council members.
“There has to be a neutral ground.”
Lavonne Huffman said the council should think more about the needy.
“There are a lot of poor working people that haven’t had raises,” she said. “Those people are just hanging in there.
“It’s very hard to live from month to month when you’re a widow, which I really am.”
Craig Fulton, city public works and utilities director, said the proposed increases were contained in a 2013 analysis that reflected the true cost incurred to provide utilities to commercial and residential ratepayers.
“For electricity, rate increases are driven by [the Bonneville Power Administration],” he added.
“They give us rate increases no matter what we do.”
Some council members suggested approving separate parts of the ordinance.
Gase said the city for many years had been “kicking the can down the road” by not factoring into rates the cost of electric utility equipment replacement.
He also decried the city’s multitude of brown lawns, alluding to residents reluctant to pay more to water their property.
Whetham said he wanted to revisit the ordinance after it was presented Tuesday night with some changes in language.
“I think you are putting a little bit too much on this council,” Whetham said.
City Manager Dan McKeen said in a later interview that the changes were “non-substantive clarifications.”
Whetham also said “there is room” in the ordinance to give more cubic feet of water to residents at less cost “to promote a green city.”
Kidd said a 9 percent increase in the base monthly residential electricity rate from $16.77 to $18.23 a month was not equitable.
“It doesn’t seem realistic in this economy,” she said.
Here’s the breakdown of increases for 2015:
■ Monthly residential electric rates would increase from $104.39 to $113.52 for average customers, an 8.71 percent increase and an annual hike of $109.56.
Average monthly commercial electric rates would increase from $226 to $231.34, a 2.4 percent increase and an annual hike of $64.08.
■ Monthly residential water rates would increase from $38.08 to $39.48 for average customers, a 3.68 percent increase and an annual hike of $16.80.
Average monthly commercial water rates would increase from $53.41 to $58.16, an 8.89 percent increase and an annual hike of $57.
■ Monthly residential wastewater rates would increase from $46.70 to $51.35 for average customers, a 9.96 percent increase and an annual hike of $55.80.
Average monthly commercial wastewater rates would increase from $42.02 to $47.84, a 13.8 percent increase and an annual hike of $69.84.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
