Spokane City Planning Commission recommends lower fees for water, sewer connections

The Spokane City Planning Commission has settled on a new rate structure for water and sewer connection fees that brings Spokane more in line with surrounding jurisdictions.

The move comes after the Spokane City Council voted to increase connection fees to as much as $20,000 per home for a 3/4 meter. Following information generated by Spokane Home Builders and Spokane REALTORS® that some 2,000 plus projects were at risk for being canceled – the Spokane council agreed to roll back fees for one year to allow for hearings and debate on a more fair agreement.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING

Here is what the City of Spokane Planning Commission proposes:

• Creating one fee citywide, instead of the staff recommended Upper and Lower Zone approach
• This citywide fee would be $4,824 for water and $6,400 for sewer.
• The proposed Upper Zone fee would have been $10,285 per connection just for water (nearly double any other jurisdiction)
• Eliminate interest calculations on prior projects – seen as a way to make even higher fees
• Adapt an Equivalent Residential Units (ERU) system over a Meter Capacity Equivalents (MCE) system (allows for more flexibility by builders)
• Fees to be phased in over two years

Spokane REALTORS® had recommended these changes to the council based on previous hearings and from additional work with the Mayor’s Committee on Connection Fees.

Next, this information will be presented to the Spokane City Council at a Study Session on Thursday, Nov. 2.

A final vote by the council is expected in November.