Citizen board questions what water bills pay for

By Anita Kissée KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: May 22, 2010 at 12:36 PM PST
Citizen board questions what water bills pay for »Play Video

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland already has some of the highest sewer and water fees in the country. With a new city council move, those bills could as much as double over the next five years.

On Wednesday Portland City Council tentatively agreed to water and sewer rate increases. The 2010-2011 city budget calls for a 12 percent increase in water rates and a jump of 6.3 percent in sewer rates.

The budget also calls for a new $15 or $30 annual fee for homeowners who live in neighborhoods that get leaf cleanups in the fall.

A lot of the money will pay for the Big Pipe project, treating drinking water and the reservoirs, which are things the Environmental Protection Agency requires. However, other things that the increased fees will pay for have some people boiling.

Bill Dayton, the owner of Pizza Baron, said he’s not thrilled his water and sewer rates are going up. He's even on the citizen’s committee that reviews utility budgets, and he still doesn’t get why the rates are going up.

“The city of Portland, in my opinion outside of PURB (Portland Utility Review Board), really needs to re-evaluate how they do business and quit taking money from one shelf to another shelf that they shouldn’t be able to touch,” he said.

Just this year, board members said they think more than $70.3 million is being spent on things that have nothing to do with water and sewer service. These include $6.03 million for the Portland Harbor Superfund, $71,100 for voter-owned elections, $4.6 million for discounts for low-income family, $600,000 for park fountains and Benson Bubblers, and $42 million for a waiver for impervious storm water charges for transportation.

“I think if most Portlanders understood that their objections really go to the heart of who we are as a people - public drinking facilities, helping the poorest families - I don’t think most Portlanders would agree with them,” said Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard who oversees the Water Bureau.

Next year Leonard said he hopes to tap into water funds for scholarships for low-income students, and he wants to spend $10 million to build a parking lot at property owned by The Oregonian in Northwest Portland. He said he wants it to be used for equipment in case an earthquake cuts off the west side.

But Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman said he doesn’t like that idea.

“The Water Bureau is acting more like a lending institution and getting involved in areas that are really astray from its mission. That concerns me,” he said.

Leonard said when the whole budget is taken into account, these are minor expenditures, and he said that Saltzman is just upset about the recent run-ins he’s had with Mayor Sam Adams.

“I think Dan is having reactions to his relationship with the mayor and not what’s going on with the Water Bureau, and unfortunately he is casting the Water Bureau under the bus along with whoever else he wants to throw under the bus, because he’s angry right now,” he said.

But like Saltzman, the city auditor, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, has questions. Her office is now examining how ratepayer money is spent, and if it’s legal.

Additionally, parking meter money, a quarter million dollars a year, is not for transportation or streets but for the Made in Oregon Sign, Saltzman said.

Related documents and links:

(This version has been changed to reflect updated budget numbers from what was aired on television).