Between The Lines
Adam Rudnick's reporter notebook
More details available to Arlington residents about proposed sewer rates
March 4th, 2010 at Thu, 4th, 2010 at 3:24 pm by AdamNobody likes paying more.
But the city of Arlington seemingly has no choice but to raise residents’ sewer rates to pay for a share of its new wastewater treatment plant, which is currently under construction.
The City Council held the first of two public hearings on Monday, March 1. As previously mentioned in The Arlington Times, the city is proposing a $5 increase per month on property owners’ sewer rates starting in April. Those rates would increase again in 2011, 2012 and 2013 by $5 per month each year.
An in-depth article detailing the changes and the public’s overwhelming opposition of the potential increase will be available online and in print after March 9, but I wanted to provide readers with some additional information as they take sides on the issue.
During the March 1 City Council meeting, Arlington Public Works Director Jim Kelly gave a PowerPoint presentation detailing where Arlington would fit in the sewer rate heigherachy.
Rate payers currently pay $48.75 per month. If the increases as proposed go into effect, those residents would pay $53.75 per month in 2010.
Here’s a list of those residential sewer rates would compare to other area cities. Rates shown are per month.
- Snohomish — $83.75
- Duvall — $62.35
- Lake Stevens — $60
- Sultan — $56
- Arlington (proposed) — $53.75
- Sedro-Woolley — $51.25
- Monroe — $50.74
- Arlington (current) — $48.75
- Stanwood — $47.43
- Everett — $42.40
- Mount Vernon — $41.60
But sewer rates alone don’t tell the entire story. Each city also charges residents a sewer connection fee.
Here’s those same cities in that same order, but with their sewer connection fees listed instead of those monthly rates:
- Snohomish — $5,029
- Duvall — $8,952
- Lake Stevens — $6,850
- Sultan — $9,106
- Arlington (proposed) — $8,400
- Sedro-Woolley — $8,926
- Monroe — $5,915
- Arlington (current) — $8,400
- Stanwood — $4,040
- Everett — $1,111
- Mount Vernon — $41.60
Those statistics and a number of other items are included in Kelly’s presentation, which will also take place during the March 15 Council meeting. Here’s the presentation:
Stay tuned to The Arlington Times for more information on any sewer rate increases.
Adam Adam Rudnick has worked as a reporter in Snohomish and Skagit counties since graduating from Western Washington University in 2006. Since then, he has written for a number of daily and weekly publications, most recently The Arlington Times and The Marysville Globe.
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