North Bend sewer rates and sewer connection fees will increase on Sept. 1, following a split vote by the North Bend City Council July 19.
After discussing a series of proposed rate increases through several public hearings, and considering the larger issues of the city’s aging wastewater treatment facility for about four years, the council members agreed to a series of annual rate increases.
A public hearing on the proposed rate increases was held June 21, then continued through July 7, to the July 19 meeting.
The package, approved over the objection of Councilman Brenden Elwood, will result in a total increase of about 46 percent in the next five years.
Before voting, Elwood spoke about the cost impact to residents and the potential for that impact to be reduced if the city could create an incentive for city residents currently on septic systems to move to the sewer system.
City Administrator Londi Lindell said the city could not subsidize the cost of connecting to the sewer system, but added “there are actually quite a few (neighborhoods) that are still on septic… We may, for some of them, be able to come up with some grant funding.”
She planned to research grant availability for such programs to connect properties to public sewer systems instead of private septic systems.
The actual process for moving residents who want to make the change off septic hasn’t been specifically defined yet, Lindell said. It would likely involve the formation of a Local Improvement District (LID) by the city. The city would require 60 percent of property owners to petition to join an LID before it could be formed, but the LID would not force anyone to switch to city sewer, Lindell said.
“You can draw the boundaries of your improvement district wherever you want,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be all of Silver Creek, for example.”
The physical boundaries would have to make sense for the city to extend its sewer lines there, and the overall cost would have to make sense for the individual property owners, Lindell added.
No septic system users in or around North Bend city limits will be affected by the sewer rate increases, unless they opt to connect to the city sewer system.
On Sept. 1, monthly sewer rates in North Bend will include a base charge of $5.54, plus a fee per cubic meter of water used.
For most customers, the per-meter fee will be $5.54 (the current average user pays $5.40), increasing to $6.24 in 2017, $6.75 in 2018, $7.31 in 2019 and $7.89 in 2020.
General Facilities Charges will also increase for new construction, from $5,852 to $10,222; if a connection is in ULID 6, the charge will be reduced, to $7,699.
