Clean Water Services' Budget Committee to Review Fiscal Year 2008 Budget

The Clean Water Services' Budget Committee will meet on Friday, May 11 to consider the Fiscal Year 2007-08 budget that would increase sewer rates for urban Washington County customers by 3.5 percent and fund more than $50.6 million of new capital construction to improve and protect clean water in the Tualatin River Watershed.

The Budget Committee will meet to review the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 proposed budget beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 11 at Clean Water Services’ Administrative Building Complex, 2550 SW Hillsboro Highway in Hillsboro.

Clean Water Services' proposed 3.5 percent sanitary sewer rate increase will be effective July 1, 2007. The increase is about $1.00 per month for the average residential customer. 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 primarily due to rising operating costs for utilities and chemicals, and to meet increasing federal water quality requirements, pay for the upgrade and expansion of Clean Water Services’ four wastewater treatment facilities and the public drainage system, and protect public health and the environment in the Tualatin River Watershed.

“Since the inception of Clean Water Services in 1970, the District has invested more than $770 million in wastewater treatment facilities, the sewer collection system, drainage and stream enhancement projects, water supply projects and other clean water infrastructure,” said General Manager Bill Gaffi. “Despite a fast-growing customer base and increased costs, we have held rates down by adopting new technologies, centralizing our administration and field operations facilities, and significantly reducing our workforce.”

In the past ten years, Clean Water Services’ customer base has increased approximately 25 percent and is approaching 500,000, growth of about 100,000 customers since 1997. During the same period, budgeted District staffing levels have decreased by 12.5 percent from 352 positions in the 1997 to 307.85 positions in the proposed Fiscal Year 2008 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 sanitary sewer connections. The sanitary sewer SDC would increase from $2,700 to $2,800 per connection. The surface water management SDC remains unchanged at $500 per new connection.

Clean Water Services’ total proposed fiscal year 2008 budget is $207.9 million, which includes the following major components: $50.6 million for capital construction, $42.6 million for operating expenses, $6.6 million for other capitalized expenses, $28.2 million for debt service, and $17.2 million for contingency.

The proposed budget also includes a planned bond sale of $55 million to meet the sanitary sewer and surface water management expansion and upgrade needs identified in the District’s five-year capital improvements plan.

The sanitary sewer capital budget includes $45.6 million in capital improvements to meet new state and federal treatment and conveyance capacity requirements. Major sanitary sewer capital projects include:

• $12.26 million of improvements to the Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in Tigard, including the completion of a new influent pump station that is designed for LEED certification, improvements to the facility to handle peak wet weather flows and meet growth in the service area, and modifications to the odor control system.
  
• $3.3 million for the Rock Creek Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility secondary clarifier #10 to increase wet weather capacity.
  
• $2.49 million to the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project which seeks to provide an additional 50,000 acre feet of stored water per year to the community at an estimated total capital cost of $300 million, with the District’s share at $52 million.
  
• $2.0 million for the Lower Tualatin Pump Station to be constructed in Tualatin Community Park and force mains, part of which will be suspended from the new pedestrian bridge across the Tualatin River.
  
• $1.79 million to upgrade the influent pump station to the Rock Creek Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility.
  

The capital budget also identifies $5 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. Major surface water management projects include the Johnson and Alexander Streets Culvert Replacements ($684,600); Tanasbrook Ponds/Bronson Creek Enhancement ($395,513); Fanno Creek 99W to Bonita ($280,000); Culvert Replacement Program ($260,000); and Wetland Mitigation Monitoring ($238,500).

Clean Water Services’ Budget Committee includes the five Board of Directors and five citizens. The Budget Committee will review the proposed budget and submit an approved budget to Clean Water Services’ Board of Directors for adoption.

Clean Water Services is the sanitary sewer and surface water management utility for 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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