MONROE — A years-long dispute between the city and the state over how much the Monroe Correctional Complex pays for water appears to be over.
Department of Corrections officials have tentatively agreed to give up discounted rates for water. They also agreed to begin paying a city utility tax by July.
In exchange, Monroe plans to give up impact fees it receives from the state for locating a prison in its borders.
“I think it’s a good resolution and a fair one,” Mayor Donnetta Walser said.
The DOC likes it, too, because it allows them to treat Monroe like other cities that host prisons.
“It’s constructive to get rid of all these agreements and put the relationship on modern footing,” said David Jansen, a director for DOC.
The prison used nearly 1.7 million cubic feet of water last year, about a fifth of the city’s water. With the discount, it paid $2.14 per 100 cubic feet. Other customers within city limits pay $4.37.
The city and the DOC have quarreled over water rates for years. It got so bad, the city was poised to shut off water to the prison and its 2,400 inmates.
The trouble goes back to a series of agreements made years ago between the city and the prison.
One agreement requires the prison to pay an annual $117,000 impact fee to the city.
DOC officials say Monroe is the only city in the state that receives such a payment.
Another agreement allows the prison to forgo a utility tax and pay wholesale rates for water.
Monroe is the only city where the DOC gets that break, and the city is losing at least $180,000 a year on the tax break alone, the mayor says.
At the moment, the prison pays about half of what other customers pay for water.
The city wants to put an addendum on the agreement, allowing the city to tax the prison and charge the same rates as other customers pay, Walser said.
The agreement still needs to get the formal stamp of approval from the Monroe City Council and DOC officials.
Jansen said the DOC has invited city leaders to meet and formalize the agreement in the next few weeks.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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