Dayton Utility Rates Rise

DAYTON - During their November 25 meeting, the Dayton City Council adopt­ed a budget for 2014 which included slight utility rate increases for water, sewer and garbage. Water rates increased two percent, sewer 2.5% and garbage 3%.

Council member Dain Nysoe cast the lone dissent­ing vote on each increase, claiming he felt that existing reserve funds could cover any increased costs the city faces in delivering utilities to residents.

In an interview this week, Dayton Mayor Craig George said he feels the council made the correct decision and that the city does not have excess reserves and cannot afford to deplete them.

"When we have wet sum­mers, our water revenues drop considerably," George said. "Our water reserve fund has varied from $130,000 to $210,000 in the past five years," he said.

George said that the water reserve fund currently stands at about $190,000, which is about the city's target level. "That's our emergency re­serve," he said. "If we lose a well or need big water line repairs, it comes from that."

George said that the city is working on building up the sewer reserve fund. "The Department of Ecology will require Dayton to build a new wastewater treatment plant within the next de­cade," he said. "We have to have funds available to put toward that."

George praised the city staff for establishing a con­servative budget that main­tains adequate reserves for emergencies. "If we don't keep making slight raises in rates, residents could sud­denly see a huge increase when something breaks," he said.