Spokane7
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December 21, 2010 in City
Garbage, sewer bills to rise in ’11 in Spokane
City Council approves higher rates
Homeowners connected to Spokane’s sewer system will pay 17 percent more for service in 2011.
The Spokane City Council voted 4-3 on Monday in favor of the new rate.
The change means homeowners will pay $43.73 a month for wastewater service, up from $37.43.
The big increase had been expected for more than a year, since a 2009 study recommended double-digit rate hikes for several years to raise enough money to meet stringent water quality rules that require major sewer system improvements.
Even so, Mayor Mary Verner had recommended a slightly smaller 15 percent increase.
Council members who supported the change said they wanted a higher rate to generate extra utility taxes, which support the police, fire, park and other city departments, because earlier in the evening the council decided against raising water prices.
The proposed city budget had included an increased water rate and the extra utility taxes that would have generated.
The city collects a 20 percent tax on utility bills, among the highest rates in the state and the second largest source of the city’s tax revenue, just below property taxes.
The council voted 5-2 to keep water rates steady. Verner had asked the council to approve a 3.75 percent increase. But most council members said they didn’t want to add an increase on top of a rate structure change that the council approved earlier this year. That earlier change means people who use more water will pay more; people who use less will pay less.
The council also voted 5-2 to raise garbage rates by 1.5 percent.
Last week, Verner had criticized the council’s decision to change proposed rates. But the 5-2 vote on water means she won’t be able to veto the new water rate. The 4-3 vote on wastewater, however, is close enough that she will have the power to veto it.
MAC faces angry crowd 
Teseract on December 21 at 1:39 a.m.
Just one more reason to move outside the city limits of this godforsaken town. Between the City and Avista it’s amazing anyone can afford their utility bills anymore.
I guess we should all be happy we’re getting a 2% decrease in social security taxes this year. I know all of my tax break is going right into the coffers of the city government and Avista!
Dazzeetrader11 on December 21 at 3:02 a.m.
Verner and her iberals strike again. DO NOT forget this is November 2011. She promises to NEVER raise taxes or levy fees. Now..taxes up, Water tax, sewer tax, and there’s more.
She had the money already and the taxpayer is making up her losses frm bad management of money.
Verner, Snyder, Rush, Waldref…..and Apple……..time for them all to be gone. She kept all employees and she kept all fire and police. All this noise for nothing. She had the money all along but lost some of it on anything BUT what should be running a city. Remember in November.
Worst Mayor and worst COuncil on record. And what is it she’s done in her 3 years? Well..frankly she’s done nothing but lose money (not hers), raise taxes (yours) and raise fees (yours).
November will come sooner enough. Verner needs to go. The Council should resign in disgrace.
liarsinnews on December 21 at 7:36 a.m.
Richard Rush said at the city council meeting, the city utility tax rate paid by the users is 20%. THAT IS AN UNTRUTH. Its 25%, which is the effective rate. Let one of the liars step up and tell me I`m wrong. They don`t dare.
lewis8457 on December 21 at 7:48 a.m.
Why are the sewer cost so high? It is the same old facility.
They are waiting for 2011 supposedly everything will be OK after new years eve. what planet are they on? The days of plentiful money for our city to waste has passed.
My utility costs are almost the same as my Avista bill.
Spokane_Citizen on December 21 at 8:31 a.m.
Actually Lewis, it isn’t “the same old facility”. The city has spent many tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the facility (and will be spending even greater amounts in the coming years) to meet some of the most stringent state and federal water quality regulations in the nation, as well as other increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. Hence the 17% increase approved by the council. You can either pay it up front as part of the rate stabilization fund for wastewater capital upgrades, or you can go out and borrow it on the bond markets (and pay debt service on the bond). It’s much cheaper to avoid the interest.
The city cannot decline to invest the money to upgrade…it will be hauled into federal court, given specific compliance schedules, as well as astronomical penalties for not willingly complying with the Clean Water Act. Many American cities are currently under such rulings.
You may ask, “why Spokane?. The answer is that it’s a very small river and it serves over a quarter million people (about 200,000 inside the city, and another 50,000+ outside the city). It’s the region’s only major wastewater treatment facility (and it will still dwarf the new county plant when it comes on line in 2012)…..and it is the predominant source of most pollutants (such as phosphorus) in the Spokane River….about the only pollutants it isn’t the largest contributor are the heavy metals from the mining industry.
The Spokane River still suffers from over a century of human abuse, it’s going to take a lot of money to clean it up, and you’re going to have to fork it over if you want to live here.
Dazzeetrader11 on December 21 at 12:08 p.m.
Actually Citizen is a bit faulty in this explanation. The Rate Stabilization fund comes from tax and is there for one thing. hint hint: it’s in the title.
verner’s plundered it and this is one of the biggest reasons she comes back to the public for more money. It’s been designed to be river clean up and where’s the river clean up? Doesn’t exist. Nobody’s done anything…and why? The fund is gone. Verner pulled a fast one even on her liberal green friends.
This whole move is a flat out lie to the citizens….it’s part of her shell game…to date, Verner’s spent $13.5 million of the fund on nothing but her “discretionary” funds. It’s GONE people! Wake up! She has $4.5 million left and she won’t spend it as intended. Worst council and worst mayor in history.
She’ll have some serious explaining to do come election time….as will the council members. She is the biggest culprit. This new “tax” or “fee” will take $50 million in new money for Verner. She’s got the shell game figured out. She needs this lost money to replenish the fund which is gone. Sneaky, dishonest, and a few other things. Verner and Cooley at their finest.
Spokane_Citizen on December 21 at 12:22 p.m.
Daisy, river cleanup is the result of improved effluent quality from the dischargers, especially the city of Spokane’s treatment facility….and plenty has been done over the past 20 years. So, with all due respect, your argument is not at all accurate.
You must be confusing the much more recently established reserve stabilization fund (it’s unfortunate it was given such a name, because I see even the council gets confused over which fund is being discussed) or the settlement fund from the northside landfill insurance lawsuit (the so-called ‘Bank of Hein’). The wastewater rate stabilization fund is quite intact, and is only being spent on capital upgrades at the facility and in the collection system (primarily stormwater related).
liarsinnews on December 21 at 4:08 p.m.
Spokane_citizen: The law suit money is commingled with other funds in the reserve accounts. Most of it has been spent. The taxpayers took a hit on that one when they were required to pay for the intended purpose of the law suit money when the city sat on the settlement. When the law suit money was released, the city did not broadcast it and the city was allowed to spend it. That`s whats called, hit with the same bat twice. I question where some of that money was spent. I think it should have been returned to the users or kept in the same reserve fund account instead of charging extra to build another account.
liarsinnews on December 21 at 8:54 p.m.
Dennis, was the money released during your watch?
Spokane_Citizen on December 21 at 9:29 p.m.
Dick, I’m not Dennis Hein, Dennis Hession or Dennis [insert desired last name], if that’s what you’re thinking. You infer a significance I don’t possess…though I’m flattered. I am, however, a long time student of Spokane government, because my people go back 5 generations here. As you know, it’s a very strange community, but it grows on you, after awhile. It does have entertainment value if you don’t let it get to you (I confess it has done so to me at times). I sincerely believe you’re a good man, but it’s sometimes difficult for newcomers to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Spokane_Citizen on December 21 at 9:38 p.m.
And Dick, at times I think we both need a new hobby! The more these things change, the more they stay the same. Us old guys expect the world to accept that we’d like to help them avoid the same old mistakes over and over again….but maybe each generation needs to learn for itself. It does, however, get pretty exhausting watching the same predictable shanigans, doesn’t it?
Marksman on December 29 at 9:17 p.m.
Sounds like more Californication from the Mayors office!