State Sen. Chase says that her bill wouldn’t necessarily prevent annexation of RONALD Wastewater District

By Evan Smith

NOTE: The original headline referred to the Alderwood Wastewater District. Of course, as the post that we repeat below says, she was referring to the Ronald Wastewater District. If Lynnwood or Mountlake Terrace wanted to annex part of the Alderwood Water and Wastewater District, Chase certainly would insist on a public vote.

Democratic State Sen. Maralyn Chase says that the bill that she sponsored in the recent legislative session wouldn’t necessarily prevent the City of Shoreline from annexing the Ronald Wastewater District.

Instead, the bill simply would require cities that want to absorb utility districts to put such annexations to a vote.

The Ronald Wastewater District includes Shoreline and a small, unincorporated area of southwest Snohomish County.

Democrat Chris Eggen, who plans to challenge Chase in the 2014 election, is a Shoreline City councilman and deputy mayor.

Chase has said that the bill was not aimed at Eggen or at Shoreline.

Still, she notes that letting Ronald Wastewater District residents vote on any proposed annexation will bring out information about rates and taxes.

“Given the fact that Seattle utilities are going up some 50 percent in eight years (as reported in the Seattle Times), one would think the voters would be well served to have access to a full and frank discussion about this issue,” she said.

Chase represents the 32nd Legislative District, including Shoreline, part of northwest Seattle, Woodway, south Edmonds and nearby unincorporated areas of southwest Snohomish County, Lynnwood and part of Mountlake Terrace.

She said last week that she sponsored the bill because she feels that disputed cases should be submitted to the people for a vote.

Chase said that State law has no other provisions that grant such unilateral authority where neither the citizens affected nor the duly elected officials affected are included in the final decision.

Chase said she fears that cities could take over utility districts and use the fees to get income from ratepayers, who may have little ability to pay.

“This is not about Councilmember Eggen and the City of Shoreline nor did their actions generate the bill,” she said. “They certainly do provide a good example of why we need the bill.

The bill passed the Senate in the recent legislative session, but the House of Representatives, on the final day of the session, sent it back to the Senate Rules Committee.

Chase sits on the Senate Rules Committee and the committee on energy, environment and telecommunications, and she is ranking minority member of the committee on trade and economic development.

NOTE: An earlier post mistakenly said that the bill was aimed at preventing Shoreline from absorbing the Ronald Wastewater District.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.