The Woodland City Council is reconsidering its plan to increase utility rates after residents expressed concerns over the hike at a recent meeting.
During the council’s Oct. 17 meeting, several residents spoke on issues they or their neighbors experienced with recent utility billing. Though Mayor Will Finn initially planned to be absent from the meeting, he attended the first portion to hear citizens’ comments.
Among the speakers was Mari Ripp, the city’s former clerk-treasurer who requested the records of thousands of utility customers earlier this year. Ripp encouraged the council to freeze utility rates. She said she was concerned that the communication from the city in regards to the migration to Minol, a utility billing company the city started using this year, wasn’t timely.
In a Sept. 13 notice to residents, Finn noted the city discovered accounts that were billed incorrectly after they conducted random “spot checks” of billing. The inaccuracies included higher rates of usage. An internal check by Minol showed its system experienced additional errors.
At the time of the notice, Finn wrote “Minol is feverishly going through the accounts to ensure accuracy.” He stated accounts that were billed incorrectly would receive credits on their bills during the next 45-day cycle.
At the October meeting, Ripp asked the council to take a “hard and fast look” at its budget to see if the rates need to be as high as they are.
“I don’t live in the city, but I know a lot of family and friends that live in the city, and they have reached out to me and said ‘why are the rates so high,’” Ripp said.
A number of ratepayers showed up to contest the bills they have received.
“Fifty-three years I’ve lived in Woodland, and this is outrageous, not only to me but my neighbors as well,” resident James Blair said about the latest utility bill.
Residents asked why Minot, a Texas-based company, managed utility billing. One resident said their bill for 45 days was double what it was for the prior 60 days, while another resident said brown, unwatered lawns are a negative reflection on the city.
Woodland Public Works Director Tracy Coleman explained the city’s utility rate study, which was completed in 2020, featured front-loaded increases, which included a 15.5% increase in water rates from 2021 to 2023. The increase later drops to 5.5% from 2024 to 2030.
Coleman noted the utility bill includes more than just water since it also encapsulates sewer, garbage and stormwater fees. She said most of the complaints she has seen were in regards to sewer costs.
“People say water (bill) but when they look at it, it’s actually sewer,” Coleman said.
She noted the city council decided to enact a regular 7% annual increase in water and sewer rates without a rate study in 2011.
Though some residents are feeling a relative squeeze, Coleman said Woodland isn’t as costly as other municipalities. She referenced the city of Vancouver’s utility rate comparison, which included two dozen cities, though Woodland was not featured. Coleman said the average sewer rate of those cities was close to $68. Based on the city’s data, Woodland is at $35. Water averaged more than $38 in the comparison areas, while Woodland is close to $30.
Coleman said 17% of the utility rate goes to staffing, 42% goes to operations like chemical treatments and 41% goes to utility projects.
She spoke about the need for those projects.
“The city is 116 years old. Some of the infrastructure in the ground is 100 years old,” Coleman said.
Coleman said it is important to look at Woodland’s infrastructure for what it is and noted people should not compare it to cities like Ridgefield, where the majority of the infrastructure is relatively new, or Vancouver, which has a population 30 times the size of Woodland.
“You look at your city and what you need to maintain and what you need to do to be able to have good water, good sanitary (systems), and provide for your citizens,” Coleman said.
The council agreed to make a decision to postpone proposed rate increases, which were set for November to January, to give more time for consideration. During the workshop, the council directed staff to put a vote on the agenda for the Oct. 24 meeting.
