Woodburn Independent Online

Woodburn water rates set to rise dramatically

Average homes will pay over $72 a month by the year 2017

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 10/30/2009 1:34:55 PM

WOODBURN — The Woodburn City Council approved the final draft of its $94 million wastewater facilities plan Monday evening.
 
The document, which projects future wastewater loads and makes subsequent recommendations, outlines a plan that will double monthly sewage rates over the next eight years.
 
A large part of the rate hike is due to increased environmental regulations, which have created a need for added infrastructure.
 
“We have some new regulatory limits that we need to be in compliance with,” said Woodburn’s Water Resources Division Manager Randy Scott.
 
“A lot of that is based on what we call the mutual agreement order we have existing now with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).”
 
Scott said the two biggest components are reducing wintertime ammonia limits and updating thermal loading limits on the Pudding River.
 
The water will need to be decreased by an average of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius at the wastewater’s discharge point, according to Public Works Director Dan Brown.
 
Additionally, there will be quality improvement, Scott said, noting natural treatment processes the city will use, such as building wetlands.
 
There will also be updates to the water processing and filtration system.
 
The plan includes about 30 major capital improvements total.
 
The average home (700 cubic feet of water) will see rates jump from $38.36 to $72.52 by 2017.
 
By next year (2010-11), there will be an initial increase of between $7 and $13 per month. By 2029-30, rates will have increased by about $57.04 per month, or 148 percent.
When compared to other cities, the rates under Woodburn’s new plan will be about in the middle, with an average monthly bill of usage of $43.05.
 
Newberg and McMinnville ranked higher with average figures of $49.95 and $48.34, respectively; places like Corvallis and Hillsboro came in under, with figures of $32.07 and $31.24.
 
Scott stressed again that the improvements are government-mandated and non-optional, based on regulatory limits, existing capacity and future growth.
 
“What we’ve done and what the committee has done is put these projects in a format to keep the rates as low as we possibly can,” said Scott.
 
Unlike some urban wastewater treatment plants, which draw money from their city’s general budget, the plant in Woodburn is completely self-sufficient.
 
That means 100 percent of building, operational and maintenance costs for the facility come directly from user rates, operating much like a private enterprise, Brown said.
 
Earlier this year, Brown commented on the city’s inability to escape the rate increases.
 
“The truth of the matter is there’s never a good time to confront these types of systematic improvements.
 
“Even if the economy was good, this would still be a painful expenditure,” Brown said.

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