Mattawa launching utility rate study

MATTAWA — Water and sewer rates in Mattawa will be reviewed to see if they’re still adequate to pay for the services.  

“In 2022, we did an update (of a 2019 study) with the new funding packages,” said Jaymin Ankney, engineer with Gray and Osborne, during the Mattawa City Council meeting Aug. 7. “More things were known, more projects were defined, and we updated it.”  

The city has received funding since 2022 for some of those water and sewer projects, and Ankney said the rates should be reevaluated. Council members allocated a maximum of $15,000 for the project. No completion date was announced.  

“Now you have the funding terms, the grant-loan split, you have the interest rates. Some of the water projects since 2022, now you have the funding. You know what funding you have for those projects,” he said. “There is an opportunity to plug all those numbers back in and check to see how you’re doing rate-wise, compared to what you thought you would receive.” 

Mattawa received more funding than originally anticipated, Ankney said, and that, too, may have an effect on rates.  

“We’re not going to reinvent the wheel, we’re not starting over from scratch,” he said. 

Council member Brian Berghout said the results of the previous study provided some unwelcome news. 

“Hopefully we can just stay as we are,” Berghout said. “I remember that research – we were projecting to have our rates increase so that when things came up, we could act. Our rates were way too low.”  

Ankney said the study might determine existing rates are adequate, but sometimes rate studies bring unwelcome news. 

“We look at the finances, make resonable assumptions of the finances over the last several years, assume they continue, assume inflation. And then you look at the revenue. As a reminder, the water and sewer funds have to be self-sustained funds. Each one has to bring enough revenue,” he said. 

City officials were thinking ahead when rates were analyzed originally, he said, looking at future projects and building reserves so the city could pay its share.  

“Now we know the funding,” he said. “So let’s see where we’re at.”