Residents of Grand Coulee should start preparing for a nearly $30 fee increase per month on sewer bills once the upcoming $12 million sewage treatment plant upgrades are complete and the loan comes due, city leaders discussed at the council meeting last week.
There were signs and unhappy expressions all around the council table as members deliberated on two possible loans to fund the upgrade. A 20-year loan would have meant an increase of $36.59 per month. The 30-year loan increase comes to $28.89.
"I don't like either one," said Councilmember Tom Poplawski. But in the end, he made the motion to move forward with the 30-year loan, offered by the Washington Department of Ecology. Half of the project costs will be funded by the loan, with an Ecology grant funding the other half.
The monthly assessment will be added to regular sewer rates, currently set at $66.45 per residential household or "equivalent residential unit" in Grand Coulee. Commercial accounts with metered access will be charged the same $28.89 assessment each month, Clerk Lorna Pearce said.
The loan will bring Grand Coulee's residential sewer bill to just over $95. The monthly addition would go away once the loan was paid off in the 2050s.
In Electric City, the current residential unit rate is $45, plus 15% tax coming to $51.75, according to Electric City's clerk, Peggy Nevsimal.
The facility upgrade won't be done for at least three years, according to city engineer Nancy Wetch of Gray & Osborne. It's unclear whether Grand Coulee's assessment will come gradually or wait until the project is done. The project is currently in the engineering design phase.
The $12 million in project costs will be split proportionally between the two cities. Grand Coulee owns 63% of the plant capacity, and Electric City owns 37%. Their shares of the loan reflect that ownership arrangement.
Electric City's preliminary budget shows a $5 increase to its sewer utility customers in 2025. That city has opted to raise their rates $5 annually in order to soften the impact of the cost of the loan.
The sewage plant upgrades, currently being designed by Gray & Osborne engineers, are necessary due to the age of the facility, Wetch explained at a meeting this spring.
"The facility does very well, it's been very well maintained over the years, and it meets all permit compliance," said Wetch at a meeting in March. "But the reality is that it is old and there's a lot of aging equipment there that must be replaced to continue to operate."
"The thing about treatment facilities is they never stopped operating," she continued. "There is sewage going through that treatment facility all the time. And it has been since 1983. There's never been a day when the sewer doesn't go through treatment. So it's a piece of infrastructure that just never really gets a break."
Originally, engineers had hoped the design would be complete by spring of 2025, with construction beginning that summer and finishing in 2027. However, current estimates say the design will be done in September of 2025, which will likely postpone construction until the following year, wrapping up in 2028.
The Grand Coulee City Council will hold a public hearing about the wastewater treatment facility's potential environmental impacts on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. at city hall. The public hearing is required by the State Environmental Policy Act and means any member of the public can speak on the issue before the council that evening.
At the same meeting, the council will hold a public hearing on the city's preliminary 2025 budget. Electric City will hold a preliminary budget hearing on a date.