PORT ANGELES — There’s good news and bad news for city utility ratepayers.
Rates for city electric, water and wastewater users would increase for five straight years beginning Jan. 2 under an ordinance the City Council will consider approving Tuesday at its regular meeting.
But council members on Tuesday also could eliminate a second surcharge as of Oct. 1 that now helps pay for the city’s harbor cleanup study.
And plans to impose a cost-of-service stormwater surcharge in 2015 have been dropped — for the time being, Phil Lusk, the city’s deputy director of power and telecommunication systems, said last week.
The city has 10,500 utility accounts, 8,700 of which are residential, Nathan West, city community and economic development director, said.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
Council members are scheduled to vote on the utility rate increases following a hearing at the meeting.
City officials say rate increases would be imposed to reflect the actual cost of service to provide the utility service across rate classes.
The following monthly increases would occur in 2015:
■ Residential electric rates would increase from $104.39 to $113.52 for average customers, an 8.75 percent increase.
Most commercial accounts would increase 2.37 percent, but some could be increased by as much as 7 percent.
■ Residential water rates would increase from $38.08 to $39.48 for average customers, a 3.68 percent increase.
Commercial customers’ monthly bills for water would increase from $53.41 to $58.16, an 8.89 percent increase.
■ Residential wastewater rates would increase from $46.70 to $51.35 for average customers, a 9.96 percent increase.
Commercial wastewater rates would increase from $42.02 to $47.61, a 13.30 percent increase.
The stormwater surcharge planned for 2015 was slated for discussion by the city Utility Advisory Committee on Thursday as its only agenda item, but the proposal was scrapped and the meeting cancelled.
“While the stormwater utility may have to adjust future rates to meet projected revenue to meet the city’s stormwater [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System] II permit requirements, a final budget review indicated it will be able to achieve its 2015 work plan after some tweaking without a rate increase,” Lusk said in an email.
“The stormwater utility rates and budget have no impact on any other City utility rates or their budgets.”
The harbor cleanup surcharge was imposed as of Jan. 1, 2013, to fund the city’s share of the harbor study remedial investigation-feasibility study.
The surcharge, which costs the average residential customer $4.50 a month, was slated to end June 30, 2015.
The city secured agreements from some insurers to help pay the costs and a $400,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology, according to a memo from city staff to the council.
The study is budgeted to cost $2.4 million.
The budget includes $735,751 from insurers, $1.08 million from the surcharge and $170,220 in other city funding.
Expenditures include $399,784 in costs for outside legal counsel and $333,421 in consulting costs.
Coincidentally, West said that Friday he was standing in front of the cashier’s office in City Hall when a customer asked, “When are we going to get rid of this?” referring to the harbor cleanup surcharge.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Tuesday night,’” West recalled.
“It was a very positive reaction.
“I think the public will be very happy to see that go away.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
