City of Edmonds utility ratepayers would be hit with an approximate 10% rate hike starting in 2024 under a proposal reviewed by the Edmonds City Council’s Parks and Public Works Committee Tuesday night. The increase, presented as part of a rate study conducted by consultant FCS Group, also includes a plan to issue more than $50 million in bond debt to cover several major water and sewer projects in upcoming years.

Under the plan, which will come before the full council for a discussion at a future meeting, the average utility ratepayer would see a 9% annual increase in water rates, a 12.5-13% annual increase in stormwater rates and a 10-10.5% per year increase in sewer rates from 2024-26. That translates into an additional $26.95 for a residential bimonthly bill in 2024, with slightly higher increases through 2026.

The amount of this rate increase — especially for water and stormwater — is higher for Edmonds than in previous years. Part of the reason is wholesale cost increases from Alderwood Water and Wastewater District, which sells water to the city, along with ongoing water main repairs. In addition, the city plans to invest $20 million in stormwater utility projects that include long-discussed Lake Ballinger infiltration and critical work to address flooding in the Perrinville Creek Basin.

Parks and Public Works Committee Member Diane Buckshnis said during the remote meeting that the request for $50 million in bond funding took her by surprise. Of that amount, $9.6 million is designated for major repairs to two aging city reservoirs at Yost Park and Seaview. The remainder — $41.4 million — will be used for wastewater treatment-related needs. That $41.1 million includes the estimated cost of meeting new Washington State Department of Ecology requirements for removing nutrients from wastewater effluent, and also would pay for Edmonds’ share of a new $230 million City of Lynnwood treatment plant. (Edmonds will cover 11% of that cost since the city sends some of its wastewater flows to Lynnwood.)

In 2020, the council passed an ordinance authorizing nearly $14.4 million in revenue bonds to finance the Edmonds Carbon Recovery Project — a gasification process that replaced the treatment plant’s aging sludge incinerator.

Chris Gonzalez, principal with FCS, shared a chart of comparable cities’ utility rates, noting that under current Edmonds rates the city is “toward the lower middle end of the spectrum.” The cumulative impact of increases during the first year, in 2024, still puts the city under many surrounding cities in terms of rates, he added.

“It’s not to make light of the (Edmonds) increases, because they are significant,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of these communities are dealing with similar problems.”

Edmonds Public Works and Utilities Director Oscar Antillon noted that that utilities across the U.S. are facing similiar issues with aging infrastructure. “We’re in the replacement era,” Antillon said. “Our utilities are old. They are reaching their life expectancy. It’s a problem for all of us who have to deal with this.”

Council President Neil Tibbott said the council will add the rate increase proposal to its upcoming discussions on the 2024 budget.

Also during the parks and public works committee meeting, FCS Group presented a proposal to increase the city’s general facilities charges (GFCs) — a one-time fee assessed as a condition for a new or expanded water/sewer/storm utility connection. The fee represents a proportionate share of the capital investment made to provide system capacity for the utility service. It can then be used to fund maintenance, capital projects or related debt services related to that specific enterprise fund which receives those funds.

Using data provided by the city, FCS modeled a rate fee schedule based on equivalent residential units (ERUs) and equivalent storm units (ESUs).  The term, ERU and ESU, are used to convert non-residential (commercial) customers into an equivalent number of residential units based on the defined water/sewer/storm use of a single-family residence.  This updated fee schedule would be used by the city to charge a connection fee to new utility customers.

It has been 12 years since the city has adjusted these fees, Chris Gonzalez of FCS said.

Committee members agreed this information was complex and needed further exploration by the council, but did not set a date to do so.

Here are highlights of other issues discussed in council committees Tuesday:

– During the public safety-planning-human services-personnel committee, councilmembers revisited a proposal from Committee Chair Vivian Olson related to requiring that grocery stores place identification signage on shopping carts. The idea is to ensure that the increasing number of discarded carts seen around the city would be returned to the appropriate stores. Committee Member Jenna Nand said she would prefer to first talk with local stores to gather their perspectives on the problem and possible solutions, before moving forward with the idea. Olson agreed, adding that the city’s Economic Development Commission may also be involved in that effort.

Olson and Nand — along with committee visitors Councilmembers Diane Buckshnis and Susan Paine — also had a robust discussion about ensuring a fair and equitable selection process for future attendees on Sister City Commission trips to Hekinan, Japan.

Edmonds has been participating in a Sister City relationship with Hekinan for the past 35 years. Part of this includes exchanging regular visits by delegations of students and adults to and from each city. The Hekinan trip this spring ruffled the feathers of some who said they wanted to attend but weren’t informed about the trip ahead of time.

Councilmembers talked about the importance of broadening the pool of applicants for the trip and also about how to determine who gets priority in terms of attendance — councilmembers vs. employees vs. elected officials vs. residents. Councilmember Paine said she believed the process should prioritize those serving as host families for Hekinan visitors.

In the end, they agreed that the Sister City Commission itself should propose ideas for an improved process, which could then come back to the council for future discussion.

Committee members also addressed the separate issue of travel reimbursement for city employees who go on the trip. Unlike past mayors who paid their own way, the city this year covered the costs for both Mayor Mike Nelson and Director Susan McLaughlin. Both attended with their respective families, who paid out of pocket.

City Attorney Jeff Taraday was asked to weigh in about whether this was appropriate or a gift of public funds, and he stated that a mayor has the authority to approve travel expenses for city employees. The travel expense issue — and its relationship to the Hekinan trip — was also brought up separately Tuesday as part of the council finance committee. During that meeting, Councilmember Olson commented that “it “seems like a stretch” for the city to reimburse for the trip.

Nand said she would like to receive more feedback from the city administration on the use of public funds for the Hekinan travel prior to taking any council action on the matter.

Also during the public safety-planning-human services-personnel committee, the council discussed the ongoing concern by some councilmembers and residents regarding the need for a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the city’s Highway 99 area. Councilmembers voted in October 2022 to conduct an SEIS for the area after listening to neighbors’ worries about how future growth could impact them, from infrastructure to the environment.

But that plan was effectively shelved after city staff suggested it would be more effective and efficient to conduct a citywide EIS — rather than two separate efforts — as part of the city’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan update. That concept was included as part of the Comprehensive Plan contract with VIA Architects,– approved by the council 5-2 in July.

The Comprehensive Plan is a document that guides the city’s decisions over a 20-year time period, serving as a blueprint for development. It is also meant to reflect the vision and priorities of the city and residents, while meeting the requirements of state and federal law.

On Tuesday night, Buckshnis argued that the council should keep its promise to the Highway 99 community by conducting a separate SEIS for their neighborhood. Taraday replied that he had concerns about that idea, adding that such a process could lead to two different consultants operating “on separate tracks.”

“You could end up having these two things that are not really speaking to each other,” Taraday continued. “It’s like they are sort of ships passing in the night. It’s almost like you are treating these things as two different cities.”

Alternately, Buckshnis proposed the idea of repealing the existing planned action ordinance for the Highway 99 area — approved in 2017 — that streamlines the environmental review process for projects that have already been covered by an Environmental Impact Statement.

“This is a free pass for developers,” Buckshnis said of the ordinance.

Nand, who along with Buckshnis voted against approving the Comprehensive Plan consultant contract in July because of the SEIS issue, said she hoped the city could find a way to compromise on the matter through the existing VIA contract.

Finally, the council during a special (and short) meeting at 7 p.m. approved an updated interlocal cooperation agreement with Snohomish County for federal Housing and Urban Development funding. The initiative will help the city meet affordable housing and community development needs in community, Development Director Susan McLaughlin said.

— By Teresa Wippel