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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mobile-Home Park Residents Face 262 Percent Sewer Rate Hike

Monthly sewer bills for 51 residents of a Veradale mobile home park will soar 262 percent as Spokane County adjusts the way it sets rates.

“We’re trying to provide affordable housing,” said Leonard Bouge, owner of Birch Tree Manor mobile home park, who complained he’ll have to pass the cost along to his residents.

The increase also will affect three other Spokane Valley parks, with a total of 106 mobile homes. A fourth park, with 109 mobile homes, has not yet connected to the nearby public sewer but will have to pay the higher rates when it does.

In the past, the county billed mobile-home parks the same way it bills commercial customers.

Rates were based on the amount of water the parks use during a typical winter month. Rates varied from park to park, but the $5.95 a month for each home at Bouge’s park was typical, said county utilities director Bruce Rawls.

The system was unfair to other residential customers, who pay $15.60 a month, said Rawls. That fee applies to houses, condominiums and units in apartment complexes.

The little-noticed rate increase was among a package of changes to the sewer program commissioners approved after a public hearing in February. In late April, Rawls notified the mobile home park owners that their rates would increase on May 1.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Kate McCaslin said the increase should be phased in over two years. That proposal must be approved by commissioners.

“You have to remember that the majority of the people living in these mobile home parks are senior citizens. They’re on limited incomes,” said McCaslin.

Acknowledging that seniors also live in houses and apartments, McCaslin said she doesn’t object to adjusting the rates, but does object to “a 262 percent increase with one week’s notice.”

Rawls said phasing in the increase won’t hurt the county’s sewer program.

“It’s not a huge amount of revenue in our overall picture,” he said.

In addition to Birch Tree Manor, the increase will affect Americana, Meadowbrook Village and Valley Breeze mobile home parks. University Mobile Home Park has not yet connected to the sewer.

, DataTimes