Expect hike in city’s utility rates this month

City of Blaine residents operating on a tight budget may want to be more careful taking long showers this month. Starting in March, city utilities will increase 17.5 percent for water usage.

Rates will also increase 5 percent for sewer and 3.5 percent for both electric and stormwater. This means about a $12 increase, from $215 to $227, for a typical household’s total utilities each month, city finance director Daniel Heverling said.

Apart from water, the other utilities are more in line with typical increases, which is about 3 percent, he said.

The increased water fees are needed to help the city catch up on years of not increasing water utility rates to keep up with inflation. From 2011 to 2021, the city was recommended to increase its water utility rate about 5.8 percent annually to keep up with water capital fixes and about a 2.5 percent annual inflation rate, which would have meant 3 to 5 percent increases each year, Heverling said. Instead, Blaine City Council didn’t start adopting increases until 2017, which only amounted to 10.7 percent from 2017 to 2020. And then didn’t approve a rate increase for 2021.

“Now the problem has snowballed,” Heverling said. “It compounds because it was adopted on these smaller amounts.”

The city’s consultant, FCS Group, recommended a 17.5 percent water utility increase through 2025, he said, and other utilities would likely need to be increased as well but in smaller amounts such as 2.5 percent for sewer. Council raised the rates for other utilities in the past decade, like sewer, but adopted a higher increase than recommended from 2011 to 2021.

Heverling said not increasing the fees wouldn’t mean the city’s utility infrastructure would immediately fall apart without the increases, but residents could start seeing the sewer bubbling and more water pipes needing to be fixed.

Utility fees are segregated, meaning the water bill will only pay for water utility maintenance and the sewer bill will only pay for sewer maintenance. Utility bills pay for utility maintenance across the city, including parts of east Blaine infrastructure. The sewer fee goes toward paying off the remaining $17 million in bonds and loans for the Lighthouse Point Water Reclamation facility on Marine Drive, expected to be paid off by the end of 2050, Heverling said.

The increases were built into the city’s 2022 budget last November and then council unanimously voted to update the city’s united fee schedule, in Resolution 1872-21, in December. 

“There have been councils that have kicked this can down the road and this is why we have to do this now,” councilmember Eric Davidson said in December. “I applaud everyone here for saying, ‘We don’t have a choice. We have to do this.’”

Davidson encouraged future councils to keep up with inflation, saying the city’s $7 million sewer budget could become $21 million as the city grows in the next 20 years.

Utility bills are mailed on the last business day of each month and due by the 15th of the following month, according to the city of Blaine website. Heverling said customers who are concerned about being able to afford the utility increases, which would amount to about $144 annually for an average household, can seek assistance at the Community Assistance Program, 360/392-8484, and Opportunity Council, 360/734-5121.

“We as a city council haven’t kept up with fees for the upkeep of the city infrastructure and we are paying a price,” councilmember Garth Baldwin said in December. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow."