MONROE — Monroe’s biggest water customer pays half of what everyone else does and has avoided a 10 percent city tax on water use.
Now city leaders say they want to change that in order to raise some money to help get through this tough economy.
It’s not a simple change, though, when the customer is the state.
For years, the city has wrangled with the Department of Corrections over how much the Monroe Correctional Complex pays for water and sewer services.
The tit-for-tat is coming to a head.
Mayor Donnetta Walser has been given the go-ahead to shut off water to the prison and its 2,400 inmates. That’s a worst-case scenario, but she’s prepared to do it if they can’t agree, she said.
“They have had a lot of red tape and stalling,” Walser said. “All we want is to be treated fairly like other cities.”
The DOC has a request, too. They’re willing to pay the same water rates and the tax, if they can stop paying the city thousands every year in mitigation fees.
The trouble goes back to a series of agreements made years ago between the city and the prison.
One 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.
Another agreement requires the prison to pay mitigation fees to the city. DOC officials say Monroe is the only city in the state that receives such a payment.
“The mayor has correctly stated that things have changed over time,” said David Jansen, a director for the DOC. “Agreements that were set up to deal with particular events seem to have taken on a life of their own.”
It started in 1982, when the state decided to locate the Twin Rivers Correctional Facility near Monroe. The decision was a surprise to city leaders and caused outrage in the community, Walser said. The state agreed to pay for the extra trouble a prison can introduce to a city. Today, that tab is about $117,000 a year.
“For some reason, it’s a strong irritant for them,” she said. “We haven’t charged for police services and it does cost us money.”
City officials wanted to annex the prison in 1996, and when they did, city leaders agreed to give the prison wholesale water rates and let the prison forgo utility taxes, a 10 percent tax based on how much water is used.
Monroe isn’t the only city in the state that sells utilities to prisons. Airway Heights, Walla Walla and Connell all have facilities within city limits. Aberdeen and Shelton also sell utilities to prisons outside their boundaries.
Monroe buys its water from Everett. When the city agreed to give the prison wholesale rates on water, it was normal for cities to sell water on a diminishing scale — the more water used, the cheaper the price.
Today the prison uses nearly 18,000 cubic feet of water a year, about a fifth of the city’s water. It pays $2.14 per 100 cubic feet. Other customers within city limits pay $4.37.
The contract is outmoded, Walser said. The prison has continued to grow since the contract was signed, too. The complex now includes five different prisons and about 2,400 prisoners. The population of Monroe is just over 16,000.
The city needs the money now more than ever. Officials cut $1.6 million from the 2009 budget and laid off employees. Another $300,000 in cuts are planned, Walser said.
Other events haven’t helped the relationship.
In 2004, an environmental group sued the city for violating the Clean Water Act. Some of the violations were caused by algae discharge from a prison sewage lagoon. The city had to pay for $63,000 ultraviolet lights to deal with the algae.
The DOC has plans to eliminate the lagoons, if they can secure money from the state, Jansen said. A proposal for money to pay for design plans is in front of the Legislature now, he said.
In 2006, a leak or open water valve at the prison wasted 19 million gallons of water. After four months of fighting, the DOC agreed to pay $219,999 for the water. The DOC and the city still dispute the actual cause.
The two sides might be closer to a resolution — at least on how much to pay for water.
The DOC has offered an agreement to the city that says both parties ought to step away from previous agreements and treat the DOC just like any other customer, Jansen said.
Corrections officials crunched the numbers and it appears the city would get more money by accepting this offer, he said.
Walser said she’s not sure that’s true.
While the prison is the city’s largest customer, it’s also one of its best, Jansen said. It’s simpler for the city to deal with the prison rather than an equivalent number of residential customers.
“They only have to send one bill and they can rely on that bill being paid,” he said.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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