Legislature passes Chase bill to require public vote for assumption of water or sewer districts
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
 |
| Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-32 |
The new law will not change Shoreline's assumption of Ronald Wastewater, which was agreed to in 2002, but may have an effect on Lake Forest Park's effort to assume the Lake Forest Park Water District.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A bill to ensure that voters in a water or sewer district retain ultimate control over whether a city or town can assume jurisdiction of their district passed the Legislature Tuesday and will be sent to the governor to be signed into law.
“These special-purpose districts are created by a vote of the people, for the people. As such, 100 percent of the taxes we pay for our water and sewer systems should be dedicated to providing the services and maintaining the system,” said Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline and the sponsor of Senate Bill 5048. “These funds should not be diverted, or ‘repurposed’ for other uses such as new developments or other non-water-sewer projects unless the voters approve.”
SB 5048 would let voters call for a referendum on any attempt by a city or town to assume jurisdiction of all or part of a water or sewer district. As with other special-service districts such as fire districts or school districts, rate payer revenue must be spent solely for the purposes of the special service districts. Utility districts assess and adjust rates to provide for maintenance and service as necessary but may not assess additional taxes for the service.
However, if a city assumes ownership of a water or sewer district, the city may levy taxes without limits, without restrictions on what the funds are used for, and without a vote of the citizens who voted to create the district. Water and sewer districts are the only special service districts that do not have a cap on the taxes that can be levied if these districts are assumed by a municipality. (see previous response from City of Shoreline)
"Utility taxes are among the most regressive taxes levied on citizens," Chase noted. "Water and sewer are basic necessities and low-income rate payers have no choice in accepting or refusing service or paying the ever-increasing taxes. For example, low-income working families pay 17 percent of their income in taxes compared to wealthy families who pay only 2.8 percent."
“I had hoped to make this legislation retroactive to give the taxpayers of Shoreline a say in what was forced on them a year ago, but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough support for that component,” Chase said. “Still, now other communities now possess a means of protecting their districts from overreaching cities and towns.”
Sen. Chase was given the 2014 Outstanding Legislator Award from the Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts for her work on this bill,
Posts
6 comments:
Senator Chase should be lauded for giving the citizens, who originally VOTED to form the district, the right to VOTE to dissolve the district. Why is the City of Shoreline so afraid to allow their constituents the right to vote on whether this is appropriate or not? Is it because the council is set of forcing on the citizens their opinion of what is "best" for the citizens of Shoreline regardless of what those citizens might want.
This article included a link to a previous article. In this article there is a link to a "previous response from the City of Shoreline". In this link the City referenced the efficiency study completed by the City as their main reason for assuming the water and sewer service within the City. There has been no recent discussion of this study and the touted efficiency of combining water and sewer system under the City (projected savings of $56.2 million over 20 years, $2.81M/year) . Why, because the City's attempt to purchase the City of Seattle Water system within the city is no longer an option. Where has this been presented to the public. The majority of the projected efficiency benefits hinged on the purchase of the water system. The assumption of the sewer system did not create the increase in efficiency due to the costs of the assumption, projected at $4.9 million over 20 years, $245,000/year at today's costs. (Utility Unification Efficiency Study).
Recent actions by the Ronald Wastewater, city supported Board of Commissioners, may have already cost the District the first two years of efficiency earnings. Information contained in the notes of the Assumption Transition Committee of Elected Officials (COE) indicate that the costs to the District for the assumption by the City will be increasing steadily. This is due to the costs of assumption for the City, that are being transferred to the District.
The assumption of the District may be the "best" choice for the citizens but I trust that those who are served by the District can make this decision, given all the information. The City of Shoreline and Ronald Wastewater District should come clean on the process, the cost of the assumption to the citizens of the city and the projected savings should be presented. Where is the presentation, by a combined Ronald Wastewater District and City of Shoreline COE, detailing the actual cost that the citizens of the City of Shoreline, who are also the customers of Ronald Wastewater District, will be expected to pay for this assumption.
Outstanding accomplishment Sen. Chase!
D-Shoreline? Is she from Shoreline?
Yes, heaven forbid that we allow the elected officials that we elected do the job we asked them to and make these kinds of decisions. Let's put everything to a vote so nothing ever gets done.
So here's what I know - on the "Where Our Wild Things Are" tour last summer, I visited a house that has installed a cistern to collect rainwater - keeping it out of the sewer and reducing their need for utlity-provided water - things we want to encourage, yes? for their efforts they had to get special building permits AND the also have to pay a fee to the City of Shoreline a fee each year (!).
Moral of the story - the City is going to get your $ one way or another. Both ways if possible!
@10:27 pm - so nothing ever gets done? Our elected officials did put a vote before the citizens the purchase of SPU and guess what? After spending untold amounts of staff time and money on consultant studies, guess what? The price of purchasing SPU soared and the City of Shoreline could no longer afford to purchase it, meaning the price they asked the voters to approve was a sham.
So what got done? Nothing. Shoreline City Hall hasn't bothered to tell the public, but SPU isn't going to be finished as a sale to the City of Shoreline. What a waste of Shoreline's tax dollars. The utility unification study only works if SPU is included.
Post a Comment