Clean Water Services Board of Directors to Hold Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Includes 3.5 Percent Sewer Rate Increase

Hillsboro, OR — May 31, 2005 — The Clean Water Services' Board of Directors will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, June 7 to consider the 2005-2006 budget that would increase sewer rates by 3.5 percent and fund more than $58.5 million of capital infrastructure to improve and protect water quality in the Tualatin River Watershed. On May 5, Clean Water Services' Budget Committee unanimously recommended the proposed budget to the Board for adoption.

The Board will meet to consider the 2005-2006 fiscal year proposed budget during their regular meeting beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 7 in the Shirley Huffman Auditorium at the Public Services Building, 155 N. First Avenue in Hillsboro.

Clean Water Services' proposed 3.5 percent sanitary sewer rate increase would be effective July 1, 2005. The increase is about 92 cents per month for the average residential customer, which will increase the charge from $26.73 to about $27.65 per month. There is no proposed increase for the Surface Water Management (SWM) fee, which has remained at $4.00 per month for residential customers since 1998.

The modest increase is necessary to meet increasing federal water quality requirements, pay debt service on bonds issued for the upgrade and expansion of Clean Water Services’ four wastewater treatment facilities and sustain the health and vitality of the Tualatin River Watershed.

“Despite a growing customer base and increased costs, we have been able to hold rates down by
utilizing new technologies, centralizing our facilities and significantly reducing our workforce,” said General Manager Bill Gaffi. “Since the inception of Clean Water Services in 1970, the District has invested more than $676 million in wastewater treatment facilities, the sewer collection system, drainage and stream enhancement projects, water supply projects and other clean water infrastructure.”

In the last 10 years, Clean Water Services’ customer base has grown by nearly 30 percent from 369,000 in 1995 to 480,000 today. During the same period, District staffing levels have decreased by 19 percent from 366 positions in the Fiscal Year 1996 Budget to 297 positions in the current budget.

To ensure new construction pays its fair share of capital costs related to growth, the District is also recommending a $100 increase in the one-time System Development Charge (SDC) for new connections. The sanitary sewer SDC would increase from $2,500 to $2,600 per connection. The surface water management SDC remains unchanged at $500 per new connection.

Clean Water Services' total budget is $129.8 million and includes $37.1 million in operating expenses; $58.5 million in capital investments; $28 million in debt services on outstanding bonds; $5.1 million in capitalized expenses for the construction of new projects and $1.1 million in other fund level expenses.

Clean Water Services’ budget has increased 9.9 percent in the upcoming fiscal year, but the District has been able to limit the proposed rate increase to 3.5 percent by utilizing its fund balance and aggressively controlling costs.

The sanitary sewer capital budget includes $51.7 million in improvements to meet new state and federal treatment and conveyance capacity requirements. Major sanitary sewer capital projects include:

• $18.7 million of improvements to the Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in Tigard including the construction of a new influent pump station; force mains and modifications to the facility to handle peak flows and meet growth in the service area.

• $4 million for the Cipole/Lower Tualatin Trunk project to construct 11,300 feet of new pipe to handle projected flows from new industrial development in the City of Tualatin.

• $2 million to fund the Tualatin Basin Water Supply project environmental impact statement.

• $1.8 million to construct the Rock Creek Wet Weather Pump Station to handle high wintertime flows to the Rock Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility.

• $1.2 million to upgrade the Gaston Pump Station and seven-mile force main that conveys wastewater from Gaston to the Forest Grove Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The capital budget also identifies $6.8 million of investments in the public drainage system to manage
flooding and protect and improve water quality in the Tualatin River and its urban tributaries.

Clean Water Services is the sanitary sewer and surface water management utility for more than 480,000 people in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego, and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment plants, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects and manages flow in the Tualatin River to improve water quality and protect fish habitat. Although Clean Water Services maintains a close working relationship with Washington County government, it is a separately managed and financed public utility.

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