City increases sewer, stormwater fees.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Along with flushing the toilet, new homes and stormwater fees in Eugene will cost a bit more starting Thursday.

The City Council voted Monday night to boost typical sewer fees by $2.75 a month, to raise stormwater fees by about 21 cents a month for the average household, and to increase the wastewater development fee builders pay for new homes by 79 percent.

The increases in wastewater and sewer fees are to finance improvements to the area's aging sewage treatment facilities.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, which includes Eugene, Springfield and Lane County, sought approval of a $144 million, 20-year capital improvement program to upgrade and expand treatment capacity and also to comply with federal Clean Water Act rules. Springfield and the county already gave the green light to the massive proposal.

Councilors Gary Pape and Scott Meisner opposed the improvement program, arguing that the wastewater commission didn't adequately alert the public about the financial impacts of the proposal.

Pape urged the commission to seek additional engineering advice to ensure the upgrades are necessary and the commission isn't adding needless capacity.

The $2.75-a-month increase is comprised of $2.18 that will go to the regional wastewater commission, plus a 57-cent boost by the city of Eugene. That regional rate is projected to increase about 6 percent in each of the next four years. For the average customer who uses about 500 gallons of water each month, the increase means paying $16.59 a month instead of $13.84.

The 79 percent increase in the regional wastewater systems development charge - levied on developers of new homes to offset some of the costs of growth - will raise the fee to $947.34 per single-family home from $528.86. Add in Eugene's portion of the wastewater fee, and the systems development charge for a single-family home goes to $1,389.66.

Despite the increase, Council President Bonny Bettman said systems development charges remain artificially low, forcing existing ratepayers to subsidize growth and new development.

Councilors Pape, Meisner and Jennifer Soloman voted against the measure, which passed 5-3.

The additional stormwater fees, proposed by the city's budget committee, will increase monthly costs for owners of homes less than 1,000 square feet by 15 cents, to $5.03. Homes between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet will be assessed an additional 21 cents a month, boosting the rate to $7.29. Homes larger than 3,000 square feet will pay more, depending on size.

The council also adopted a mostly hold-the-line fiscal 2005 budget of $378.6 million, thanks to spending cuts in previous years and the existence of healthy reserves.

While the city road and stormwater funds sustained some fairly significant budget reductions compared to fiscal 2004 spending, the council was able to boost spending on police and ambulance services.

A proposal by City Manager Dennis Taylor to add five police officers, a half-time sergeant and two 911 dispatchers survived the ax. The cash for police and fire services came from $1.2 million in internal cuts.