Hayden's royal flush

HAYDEN - The Hayden City Council is scheduled to conduct a public hearing Jan. 21 to consider a series of annual increases of the sewer-user rate.

The proposed rate increases for residential users would start this year. The current rate of $52 every other month would increase to $57.72.

From there, it would step up to $63.50 in 2015, to $69.84 in 2016, and to $76.84 in 2017.

Stefan Chatwin, Hayden city administrator, said an adjustment is needed to keep up with the increase in operation and maintenance costs of the treatment plant and sewer infrastructure.

Money also is needed for upgrades to the treatment plant because of more stringent permit requirements for effluent discharged into the Spokane River.

"The city has identified about $19.5 million in planned capital improvement and replacement projects over the next 12 years," Chatwin said.

The city council, he said, will vote on the proposed increase after the public hearing process is completed.

A contractor for the city, the FCS Group based in Washington state, completed a multi-year sewer-rate study which cost the city $18,420.

The primary goal of the study was to develop a multi-year financial plan and rate strategy that would provide stable revenue to recover the cost of operating and improving the sewer system.

"Linking rate levels to a financial plan such as this helps to enable not only sound financial performance for the city's sewer utility, but also a clear and reasonable relationship between the costs imposed on utility customers and the costs incurred to provide the service," Chatwin said.

He said the proposed sewer-user rate figures for this year and through 2017 were taken directly from the study.

With no rate increase this year, the projected rate revenues for 2014 would be $1,873,000.

If the proposed rate increase is adopted, the projected revenues would be $1,925,000. The new rate wouldn't kick in until March.

"With or without a rate increase, projected operating expenses for 2014 are $2,055,798," Chatwin said.

So, either way, revenues wouldn't catch up with expenses this year. The multi-year approach, though, would eventually reach that goal without using reserves, Chatwin said.

"With the increases in cost to operate the treatment facility, the city has had to rely on sewer reserve funds to make up the difference in operating expenditures verses revenues for the last several years now," he said. "This is before any additional expense associated with future capital costs to meet the (effluent discharge) permit requirements."

The proposed increases take into consideration future capital expenditures, so the city can pay off debt service and pay the annual operational expenses, he said.