MUKILTEO – Customers of the Olympus Terrace Sewer District may be hit with a 15-percent rate increase to pay for repairs to a major sewer line.
Costs to repair the 1 1/2-mile Big Gulch line have escalated from about $9 million to around $20 million because of unforeseen costs of protecting the gulch’s wetland habitat, said Patrick Sorensen, the district’s general manager.
The district is taking out a 20-year loan to pay for the repairs, commissioner Thomas Rainville said. The rate increase, which would affect about 4,500 customers, would cover the loan payments, he said.
Residential customers in the district pay an average of $34.65 per month. With a 15 percent rate increase, customers would pay about $5.19 extra per month, which amounts to about $62 more each year.
“The cost of the Big Gulch project is what’s doing it to us,” Rainville said. “The cost of it has gone up significantly.”
The board is scheduled to vote on the rate increase Aug. 8. Commissioners couldn’t vote at this week’s meeting because a public hearing was scheduled, Sorensen said.
Repairs to the sewer line are scheduled to start in August and be finished by the end of summer 2008.
Erosion from heavy rain and water runoff has eroded the soil supporting the 36-year-old pipeline that carries sewage from the northern two-thirds of Mukilteo down the gulch to a treatment plant on Possession Sound. The sewer line is exposed in several areas.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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