CITIES CAN TAX THEIR OWN UTILITIES
Did you know that when a city in Washington State owns a utility such as a sewer or water system, the city can impose a utility tax on the utility charge collected from the ratepayers to support their general fund activities? The cities can tax their own utilities!
For example the City of Kent adds a 6% utility tax to the water/sewer rates, and Bremerton and Longview add a 9.5% utility tax.The City of Bremerton recently proposed to raise the utility tax on wastewater from 9.5% to 14%! The residents of the City of Richland pay a utility tax of 10.5% and the City of Seattle imposes a 12% utility tax on their wastewater utility. Spokane taxes their own wastewater utility 20%!
Ronald Wastewater District is an independent Special Purpose District governed by three Commissioners elected by you, the ratepayers of the District. Because Ronald Wastewater District is not part of the City of Shoreline the District is not subject to a utility tax by the City.
Many local governments are cutting services, at the same time they are raising taxes on utilities. It’s nice to know that there are still Special Purpose Districts like Ronald Wastewater District who live within their means and are governed and managed professionally and economically.
On October 18th, 2011 your elected Board of Commissioners of Ronald Wastewater District: Arnie Lind, Art Wadekamper, and Brian Carroll, decided not to increase the sewer rate for 2012. Your sewer rate will remain the same - $11.15 per month.