Spokane City Council agrees to balanced water and sewer hook up fees

After months of meetings and negotiations, the Spokane City Council has agreed to a new fee structure for water and sewer connection fees that will add about $10,000 to the cost of a new home, known as General Facilities Charges (GFC’s).

Spokane REALTORS® had aggressively lobbied against the original proposal last summer, that would have resulted in increases of roughly $20,000, and have been part of nearly every negotiating committee since the issue came before the council.  READ MORE ON OUR EFFORTS HERE

Led by REALTOR® Champion Council member Jonathan Bingle, these new fees will be used to help extend new services to homes being added in Spokane.

Among the final changes:

• Water connection fees of $4,881 citywide for a 3/4” connection
• Sewer connection fee of 6,863 for a ¾” connection
• Fee increase will be not be immediate – and amortized over time
• Affordable housing projects should remain exempt from connection fees

These changes will take effect March 5^th, 2024.