EVERETT — Combined water and sewer rates in Everett could see a 43% hike over the next four years, public works employees told the City Council on Wednesday.
The proposed increases are due to a 38% rise in building costs since 2018 and a number of vital capital construction projects set to take place during the rate window, public works finance manager Shaun Bridge said Wednesday.
Everett Public Works is an enterprise fund, meaning it operates like an independent business, separate from the city’s general fund. Money for the department comes from rates, fees and grants, which can only go toward water and sewer improvements and maintenance.
Rates for water and filtration would go up 19.4% between 2025 and 2028. Much of the increases would come in the first two years, with rates in 2027 and 2028 only increasing 3.8% annually.
Sewer and surface water rates, however, are set to go up by 50.5% in the same time period, due to the major projects set to be built in the next few years.
Combined rates, including water and sewer, would go up by 43.4% by 2028. The monthly bill for a single family home would go from $122.43 this year to $184.77 in 2028.
The largest construction project set to begin is the Port Gardner Storage Facility, an estimated $200 million undertaking the city needs to build to combat combined sewer overflows. It will be located next to Naval Station Everett.
In Everett, underground pipes are used for both wastewater and stormwater. Normally, the sewer system sends all of the wastewater to the Everett Water Pollution Control Facility, the city’s treatment plant. During intense rainfall, however, the sewer system can be strained — called a combined sewer overflow — sending wastewater directly into the Snohomish River or Port Gardner Bay. These overflows contain bacteria and debris that could harm people and animals, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Everett has already reduced its combined sewer overflows by 95% since the late 1980s, according to a 2011 public works document. However, the construction of the Port Gardner facility, along with another $36 million facility on 36th Street, is set to control the overflows further.
In 2015, the state Department of Ecology ordered the city to reduce sewer overflows as much as possible by 2027. That timeline means the city is set to foot the bill for major construction in the coming rate window.
The rate increases will fund infrastructure replacements, as well. An $80 million replacement of Reservoir 3, an in-ground 20 million gallon reservoir providing more than half of the city’s water, is the largest of those projects. Construction began earlier this year and is set to be completed by 2028.
About 540,000 people rely on the drinking water from the reservoir, originally constructed using horses and plows over 100 years ago, Bridge said. If a large earthquake were to strike, the reservoir in its current state would likely fail, according to the city.
The Public Works department would defer other maintenance projects to keep the increases as low as possible, Bridge said, calling it a “calculated risk to maintain that rate affordability for our customers.” As much as 42 miles of the city’s sewer pipe is over 75 years old and at the end of its life cycle.
“It’s a super, super capital-intensive rate window,” Bridge said. “Truthfully, I’m kind of relieved these rate increases aren’t larger.”
A public hearing on the rate increases is scheduled for Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The council could vote on the increases Jan. 8.
Everett’s water system serves about 657,000 people across Snohomish County. Its sewer system serves over 180,000 people.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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