Dayton Utility Rate Hike Planned

DAYTON—City officials have made infrastructure a top priority in 2017.

Reflected in the 2017 budget for the City of Dayton are water and sewer utility rate hikes to help with major capital improvements and provide for ongoing maintenance of the facilities.

The rate hike in 2017 will aid in funding for Phase II of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Facilities Plan, according to City of Dayton Administrator Trina Cole.

Dayton’s wastewater treatment plant was built in 1938. It is a point source facility, which means that after it processes and clarifies sewage, the effluent is pumped into the Touchet River.

“The Department of Ecology has said we have to pull effluent out of the Touchet River for a minimum of six months,” Cole said. Retrofitting the city’s 60-year-old wastewater treatment plant to comply with DOE regulations isn’t logical, she said.

The increase in utility rates will allow the city to move forward with purchasing property for a new plant, and will allow for a wastewater treatment land application to be made. The new wastewater treatment plant will be operational in 2021, Cole said.

The current base monthly rate for a ¾ to 1” water meter inside city limits, for residential use, is $83.75 and that will increase to $89.40 on January 1, 2017. The base monthly rate for residential sewer will increase by $2.25.

Water rates were last increased in 2014, and there was an increase in sewer rates in 2015, city officials said.

Some of the infrastructure projects that have been identified for 2017 include the South First St. reconstruction project, the East Patit Ave. water main line replacement project, and the Dayton High School water main project.

Improvements will also be made to replace or relocate street signs, perform alley reconditioning to repair potholes, and perform major crack seal repairs to various city streets, and to the levee trail.

Some of the other goals for the city are; to complete the water utility rate study, research funding options to implement the design of the levee deficiency correction program so that construction can begin in 2017 or 2018, and to hire an additional staff person to assist in the office at the Dayton City Hall.

The city also plans to establish new city codes to allow code compliance in areas not currently covered, and address vegetation overgrowth along the public right of ways.

The 2017 budget reflects an 18% increase from 2016, due to the South First St. reconstruction project, which includes the proceeds from grants and loans, to improve the water, street and sewer infrastructure, city officials said.

The council has also authorized the city to apply with the State of Washington drinking water state revolving fund loan program to aid in the construction of the D-1 North Fifth Street and Patit Avenue project. The project will replace 1,300 lineal feet of existing two, four, and six-inch steel pipe, with eight-inch pipe, according to city officials.

The 2015 Water City Plan, adopted by the City Council on May 9 established a capital improvement program for the city’s water system, and the city has been urged by the state to correct the system’s most critical deficiencies, referred to as a Priority I project, according to Cole.

A study performed by Anderson Perry & Associates identified the D-1-North Fifth Street (Washington Avenue to Patit Avenue) and Patit Avenue (North Fifth Street to Hwy. 12) project to be the most critical deficiency in the water system. The total cost of the project is $335,320, and the money will come from water rate increases, Cole said.

In other city news, the Transportation Improvement Board has selected the West Main St. (SR-12) North Pine to Touchet River Bridge project for funding for sidewalk improvements. The total for the project is $273,000.00. The TIB will spend $245,700.00 on the project.

The city will match the $2,500.00 contribution by the Dayton Development Task Force for that project. The city has received a grant for the remainder of the $273,000.00 project through the Transportation Alternatives Program, Cole said.

The city council has also adopted new meeting dates and times, which will benefit the public, according to Cole.

Regular city council meetings will now be held on the second and fourth Monday of each month, at 7 p.m., in Council Chambers at Dayton City Hall starting in January, Cole said.