Clean Water Services' Budget Committee to Review Fiscal Year 2009 Budget

Hillsboro, OR — May 2, 2008 — The The Clean Water Services' Budget Committee will meet on Friday, May 9 to consider the Fiscal Year 2008-09 budget that would increase sewer rates for urban Washington County customers by 4.5 percent and fund more than $67 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 2008-2009 proposed budget beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, May 9 at Clean Water Services’ Administrative Building Complex, 2550 SW Hillsboro Highway in Hillsboro.
Clean Water Services' proposed 4.5 percent sanitary sewer rate increase would be effective July 1, 2008. The increase is about $1.34 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 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 the public drainage system, 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 $814 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 ten years, Clean Water Services’ customer base has grown by nearly 18 percent from 426,000 in 1998 to 511,075 in 2007. District staffing levels have decreased by 13 percent from 366 positions in the Fiscal Year 1996 Budget to 318.85 positions in the proposed Fiscal Year 2009 Budget.

To ensure new construction pays its fair share of capital costs related to growth, the District is also recommending a $300 increase in the one-time System Development Charge (SDC) for new connections.
The sanitary sewer SDC would increase from $2,800 to $3,100 per connection. The surface water management SDC remains unchanged at $500 per new connection.

Clean Water Services' total proposed Fiscal Year 2009 Budget is $233.3 million, which includes the following major components: $67 million for capital construction, $55.8 million for operating expenses, $25.3 million for debt service, $28.1 million for contingency and $57.1 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 $55 million to meet the sanitary sewer and
surface water management expansion and upgrade needs identified in the Clean Water Services’ five-year
capital improvements plan.

The sanitary sewer capital budget includes $59.4 million in capital improvements to meet new state and
federal treatment and conveyance capacity requirements. Major sanitary sewer capital projects include:

• $21 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 $14.5 million (69%) of this cost by members of the Tualatin Basin Water Supply
Project Partnership.

• $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.

• $2.5 million for the Cipole/Lower Tualatin Trunk project to upgrade 8,000 feet of sanitary sewer
to handle projected flows from new industrial development in the City of Tualatin.

• $2 million to construct the Lower Tualatin Pump Station in Tualatin Community Park to replace
the Lower Tualatin Interceptor system.

The capital budget also identifies $7.7 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 ($2.4 million); Rock Road Drainage Upgrade ($830,000); Stormwater Basin Master Plan ($300,000); Fanno Creek enhancement from Highway 99 to Bonita Road ($270,000) in Tigard that will restore 2.5 miles of stream and up to 28 acres of floodplain area; and Fanno Creek enhancement in Greenway Park ($258,000) to restore 1.5 miles of stream and up to 40 acres of wetlands within Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District’s Greenway Park.

Clean Water Services’ Budget Committee includes the five Board of Directors and five citizens. The Budget Committee will review the proposed budget and make a recommendation to Clean Water Services Board of Directors.

Clean Water Services is a water resource 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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