Fife water rates to increase

Fife City Council approved at their Jan. 26 meeting to move forward with a proposed citywide water rate increase. The proposed increase would raise city water rates by about 86 percent over the next six years. The cause for these increases stem from three main factors – the city’s development of Holt Well as an additional water supply for the city, higher cost associated with buying water from the city of Tacoma, and stricter legal standards for water purification.

Council gave residents a chance to voice their opinions about the possible water rate increases during a public hearing. Many members of the community were present at the hearing and voiced concerns over such a steep increase.

“The city should provide water at a reasonable cost,” Fife resident Jeff Rhyner said.

He agreed with city officials about the necessity of developing an independent water supply, however Rhyner suggested that the area companies and warehouses should absorb more of the cost.

“We’re all struggling right now and we can’t jump up and say it’s going to get better tomorrow.”

The city argued that these increases are necessary to cover the cost of buying water from Tacoma. For the past 12 years, Tacoma has steadily raised its water rates an average of 9.5 percent per year. The city of Tacoma has recently announced two major water rate increases, the first taking effect this year and the second in 2014-15. Fife has been able to absorb these rate increases over the years and only increased rates 1.4 percent annually by using accumulated reserves in its water utility. These reserves have now reached a minimum level and Fife Public Works Director Russ Blount argued increases are necessary because the city is currently losing money on every gallon of water sold to residents.  

“Given what Tacoma already announced in terms of rate increases of their own, if we did nothing we would eventually have to pay more in 2015,” Blount said. “We would be at the absolute mercy of Tacoma.”

Fife officials also stressed the importance of developing Holt Well as an alternative to purchasing water solely from Tacoma. Currently, Fife purchases all its water from the city of Tacoma. This alternative water supply could also make Fife less vulnerable to water rate increases from Tacoma in the future.

Development and testing of Holt Well began last February. The city estimates that Holt Well will be online by 2012. Once the well is online, the city will reduce the amount of water purchased from Tacoma down to levels not seen since 2004. Blount explained that the city currently owns six wells, but that most were shut down due to higher levels of arsenic. Critics of developing Holt Well were weary about the long-term viability of the well as a reliable source of water for the city.

“Developing this well is a risk and there are going to be some uncertainties,” Blount said. “However, over the long haul if we do nothing, we will eventually have to pay more for this service.”

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