For immediate release
Clean Water Services’ Board to Hold Budget Hearing on Fiscal Year 2010 Budget
Includes 5.5 Percent Sewer and 6.25 Percent SWM Increase
Hillsboro, OR — May 19, 2009—
The Clean Water Services' Board of Directors will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, June 2 to consider the Fiscal Year 2009-10 budget that would increase sewer rates by 5.5 percent and the Surface Water Management (SWM) fee by 6.25 percent for urban Washington County customers and fund more than $74 million of new capital construction to protect public health and improve water quality in the Tualatin River Watershed. On May 8, Clean Water Services’ Budget Committee recommended the proposed budget to the Board for adoption.
The Board of Directors will meet to consider the Fiscal Year 2009-10 proposed budget during their regular meeting beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 2 in the Shirley Huffman Auditorium at the Public Services Building, 155 N First Avenue in Hillsboro.
Clean Water Services' proposed 5.5 percent sanitary sewer rate increase and 6.25 percent SWM fee increase would be effective July 1, 2009. The sanitary sewer rate increase is about $1.70 per month and the SWM fee increase is about $0.25 per month for the average residential customer. This is the District’s first SWM rate increase since 1998. The combined average monthly residential bill would increase to $36.91 from $34.96.
These increases are necessary to meet stringent federal water quality requirements; pay for rising power and chemical costs; fund flood management and water quality projects; and to upgrade and maintain the community’s wastewater collection and treatment facilities.
“Despite a growing customer base and increased costs, we have been able to hold rates down by utilizing new technologies and developing partnerships with public, private and community partners,” said General Manager Bill Gaffi. “Since the inception of Clean Water Services in 1970, the District has invested more than $700 million in wastewater treatment facilities, the sewer collection system, drainage and stream enhancement projects, water supply projects and other clean water infrastructure.”
Staffing levels remain flat in Clean Water Services’ Proposed Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. In the last ten years, Clean Water Services’ customer base has grown by nearly 17 percent from 438,000 in 1999 to more than 500,000 in 2008. Over the same time period, District staffing levels have decreased by nearly 10 percent.
To ensure new construction pays a reasonable share of capital costs related to growth, the District is also recommending a $500 increase in the one-time System Development Charge (SDC) per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU). The sanitary sewer SDC would increase from $3,100 to $3,600 per EDU. The surface water management SDC remains unchanged at $500 per equivalent service unit.
Clean Water Services' total Proposed Fiscal Year 2010 Budget is $316.4 million, which includes the following major components: $74.5 million for capital construction, $55.8 million for operating expenses, $29.5 million for debt service, $32 million for contingency and $122.6 million for fund transfers. Fund transfers must be reflected in the budget, but do not represent actual expenditures.
The proposed budget also includes a planned bond sale of $75 million to meet the sanitary sewer expansion and upgrade needs identified in the Clean Water Services’ five-year capital improvements plan. The sanitary sewer capital budget includes $67.9 million in capital improvements to meet new state and federal treatment and conveyance capacity requirements. Major sanitary sewer capital projects include:
- $14.85 million for the Forest Grove Liquid Stream Upgrade project that includes construction of a new aeration basin, headworks and influent pump station. Improvements also include an upgrade to the ultraviolet disinfection system and groundwater pump station. Completion is expected in the year 2011.
- $13.7 million to fund the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project and Tualatin Project Title Transfer investigation. As the lead agency for this regional effort, Clean Water Services will be reimbursed $9.5 million (69%) of this cost by members of the Tualatin Basin Water Supply Project Partnership.
- $7.63 million to construct the Lower Tualatin Pump Station in Tualatin Community Park to replace the Lower Tualatin Interceptor system.
- $5.6 million of improvements to the Rock Creek Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in Hillsboro including aeration basin construction and improvement necessary to meet wastewater requirements for the year 2010.
- $2.6 million to continue the Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility expansion including extension of the influent gravity sewers, influent pumping station and influent force mains connecting the new pump stations and existing headworks.
The capital budget also identifies $6.5 million of investments in surface water management projects to improve water quality and manage flooding in the Tualatin River and its urban tributaries. Major surface water management projects include North Bethany Stormwater Projects ($1.25 million); Fanno Creek enhancement from Highway 99 to Bonita Road ($620,000) in Tigard that will restore 2.5 miles of stream and up to 28 acres of floodplain area; Stormwater Basin Master Plan ($400,000); Arborcrest & 174th Storm Sewer Upgrade ($300,000); and Jay Street & 201st Street Drainage Project ($250,000).
Clean Water Services is a water resources management utility for more than 500,000 people in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego, and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment facilities, 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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