POULSBO — The Poulsbo City Council has directed city staff to proceed with a process to increase stormwater rates.
Without the rate increase, city staff told the council that the city would fall behind the curve in maintaining the stormwater system and run afoul of state and federal regulations.
“We have to bite the bullet sooner rather than later,” Councilman Jim Henry said at the council’s Oct. 15 meeting.
The process to raise rates will include a public hearing on Nov. 12 and will take into account increased costs from updating the city’s stormwater system. After the public hearing, the increased rate will come before the council for final approval.
Poulsbo’s stormwater fees are currently set at $10.72 each month for residential customers. The Engineering Department is recommending raising rates to $16.43.
If approved, the increase would place Poulsbo’s stormwater rate among the highest in the region. Bainbridge Island’s stormwater rate for a single family customer is $12.23. Gig Harbor’s is $13.31, and Port Orchard’s is $16.
Comparing Poulsbo’s proposed rate, however, with other cities of similar size in the Puget Sound region places it second highest next to Snoqualmie at $19.36. Sumner is at $10.24, Snohomish charges $14.37, Snoqualmie is $19.36, and Lake Forest Park is $15.98, according to City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak’s presentation to the council.
The increase involves a complicated mix of adhering to federal and state regulations, covering the cost of maintaining the stormwater system, and funding a portion of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.
“What we are looking at tonight is adding three employees, maintaining our level of investment in the (Capital Improvement Plan) and raising our rates,” Councilman David Musgrove said. “Not only are we talking about doubling employees, we are potentially changing our capital investment and raising rates. Wow, that is a lot in one basket.”
While the “basket” is heavy, staff and other council members concluded that there is no other option but to increase stormwater rates. If the levels of service fall below state and federal standards — stemming from the Clean Water Act of 1972 — Poulsbo’s development would be stunted, Mayor Becky Erickson noted at the meeting.
“In my professional opinion, we don’t have a choice,” Kasiniak said. “That’s my recommendation. Our professional opinion, of three professional engineers, this is the level we have to be at to comply with the (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit.”
City engineers recently performed a gap analysis which considered city processes and practices for its stormwater utility. When all is considered, a gap appears between how the city currently operates, and how it should operate. Such an analysis is performed every six years.
For example, Kasiniak said, the city will have to clean catch basins more often than it previously has, which means more work for city employees. The increased cost posed by those cleanings will be transferred to stormwater rates.
The fund for the stormwater utility has been weakening for some time, according to Erickson.
“This fund has been running into the red for several of years. When I came on as mayor it was clear there was a problem with this fund,” she said.
“This is a classic example of a federal mandate being implemented at the local level. This is the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, now trickling down through government, being implemented through the state Department of Ecology at the local level. We have no choice.”
