Bellingham sewer rates may quadruple. Here’s why
Bellingham residents could be paying even higher sewer rates over the next decade than was previously thought as aging equipment at the Post Point wastewater treatment plant is replaced in a project slated to cost $220 million or more, city officials said this week.
Earlier Bellingham Herald reporting indicated that sewer rates would double or triple when the city builds anaerobic digesters that turn human waste into fertilizer, replacing the incinerators that burn solid the matter left after water is filtered out of sewage.
But now it’s looking like customers could be paying sewer rates as much as four times higher than the current rate of $47 a month.
“This project is not cheap, there’s no way to sugar-coat that,” Public Works Director Eric Johnston said at a meeting of the City Council’s Public Works and Natural Resources Committee on Monday afternoon, May 9.
A key factor has been inflation, said Gordon Wilson of the FCS Group, a utility rate consulting firm, in a presentation to the committee.
“They’re scary numbers,” Wilson told the council.
To soften the blow, the city is applying for a low-interest loan for up to 49% of the project’s total cost, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.
An application fee is $100,000, and the full City Council voted 6-0 Monday night to spend that money.
Meanwhile, rate increases could start in January 2023 if the council authorizes a new proposed rate schedule.
Several steps are unknown as the city moves ahead with replacing the Post Point incinerators, including how the solid waste will be disposed of.
But one thing is certain — Bellingham residents will pay substantially higher sewer rates.
Previously, a rate schedule had forecast monthly increases of 12% through 2029, and then 5% increases afterward until they level off at $85 to %139 monthly.
A current rate forecast included with the May 9 agenda seeks 16% percent monthly increases through 2029, and 5.5% increases through 2034.
Monthly sewer bills would level off at $185 with no further increases in 2035, according to the proposed rate chart.
