Bainbridge’s Utility Advisory Committee met last week to talk about proposed rate adjustments.
The city launched a study a year ago of the rates and fees charged by Bainbridge’s water and sewer utilities.
Last March, the city hired the consultant firm of Financial Consulting Solutions to evaluate the rates charged by city utilities and make recommendations to the city, the Utility Advisory Committee and city council.
Preliminary findings were presented to city officials last year, and the city council approved modifications to hookup fees, also called system participation fees, for new developments that wanted to connect to the city’s water and sewer systems.
Hookup fees for single-family homes with a meter size of 5/8th-inch and 3/4th-inch rose from $2,754 to $3,806 for 5/8th meters and $5,709 for 3/4th meters.
Sewer connection charges in Winslow for single-family homes were increased from $5,123 to $8,187.
At the recent UAC meeting, the committee reviewed the consultant’s suggestions for rate changes for the Winslow water system, Rockaway Beach water system, Winslow sewer system and South Island sewer system.
According to a draft UAC memo on water and sewer rate changes, the committee said the Winslow water system has reserves of $7.6 million and no debt, but projects over the next six years — the biggest being the replacement of the water storage tanks on the Bainbridge High campus — will total $9.2 million. The UAC said a “modest rate increase” and bonded debt will be necessary “to cover increased costs and ensure maintenance of an adequate reserve.”
The Winslow water system has 2,598 customers. The UAC said a 2 percent increase overall, in part, is necessary to pay for rising costs.
Higher rates than 2 percent, are needed to cover capital and operational costs, the memo added.
The UAC said rates for single-family customers should go up more than 2 percent, while rates for multi-family, commercial and irrigation customers should be reduced.
Instead of making an immediate rate change, the committee added, different rates between classes of customers should be phased in over three years, with rates then increased afterward by 2 percent, across the board.
The UAC also noted in the memo that the Winslow sewer system, with a total of 2,114 customers, has “relatively higher rates” than those paid by customers of other local sewer utilities.
That’s due, according to the UAC, to expensive upgrades to the Winslow Wastewater Treatment Plant and the reconstruction of the Eagle Harbor beach main.
Though the sewer system has financial reserves of $6.6 million, projects planned over the next six years will cost $9.8 million.
Those projects include reconstruction and renovation of pump stations.
The UAC said a bond issue should be issued in 2021 to cover the costs.
For Winslow sewer customers, an overall 2 percent increase per year, over the next five years, is suggested.
That said, the UAC noted that rates for single family and multi-family customers should be decreased rather than increased, and non-residential customers should pay a rate that’s increased by more than 2 percent.
Instead of making immediate increases or reductions in rates, the UAC added, sewer-rate changes for different customers should be phased in over three years, with a 2 percent across-the-board increase to follow.
In the Rockaway Beach water system, which has 70 customers, rates are slightly higher than Winslow’s rates. The UAC suggests adjusting the rates to mirror those paid by Winslow customers.
The UAC said rates paid in the South Island sewer system will not cover the costs of capital reinvestment, and the committee also said rates should be raised to cover the cost of planned projects.
At its meeting on March 7, the UAC decided to recommended adoption of the proposed sewer and water rates to the city council.
The council will start its discussion on a proposed utility rate increase at its March 19 study session.
