Lakehaven Holds Utility Rates

At the Lakehaven Utility District, the new year begins with a significant connection to the last. Thanks to a favorable balance sheet at year’s end, the Lakehaven Board of Commissioners extended the monthly rates charged by the District for water and sewer service in 2004 through 2005. “This marks the fifth year in a row that we have been able to pass a budget that doesn’t include a rate increase to our customers. With costs for most goods and services increasing every year, this should be a welcome change” notes 2005 Board President Ed Stewart. Fellow board member Tom Jovanovich sums it up by adding “it gives us a good feeling to maintain the same high quality product and service without having to raise the water and sewer rates”.

The current base rate for residential water service using a standard meter is $7.24 per month. Customers using approximately 7,500 gallons of water per month pay a total monthly water charge of $12.54. According to a survey published by the Association of Washington Cities, the average base monthly rate charged to customers in 2004 by agencies participating in the state-wide survey was $18.10; with customers using 7,500 gallons paying $24.54*. Residential sewer rates for Lakehaven customers using a comparable amount of water are $26.48 per month, compared to an average 2004 rate of $33.75 per month for customers of agencies participating in the survey.

The sewer rate is influenced by the volume of water consumed in the winter months. Explains board member Dick Mayer, “the reason we use water consumption in the winter months to determine sewer bills is that unlike summer, where outside watering is a large factor, winter usage of water more closely follows use of the sewer system. While this system presents more challenges to administer than a flat rate system, we believe that it is fairer to the customer and helps to promote water conservation in the winter time”.

The District maintains a capital improvement budget of over 14 million dollars, which includes a current project to add a facility to reclaim sewer biosolids for landscape applications and the remaining obligation owed for the District’s share of Tacoma’s Second Supply Pipeline Project(due to deliver water to the District this year). As commissioner Bev Tweddle comments “these utilities are part of evolving industries that face considerable government regulation. We have never considered allowing important system development initiatives to languish to facilitate lower rates”. Don Miller, a member of the Board since 1984, reflects, “while it takes a considerable amount of money to run the utility properly, we have borrowed the concept of ‘best management practices’ from the engineers and use it in our financial planning and annual rate studies”.

Rates for 2006 will be reviewed in the fall.

*(Actual rates may be higher in 2005. Additionally, many agencies, unlike Lakehaven, charge a higher rate to customers outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the agency).