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City staff recommend placing aquifer protection area renewal on ballot; would add $15/year fee
Summary
City staff briefed the PIES committee on joining Spokane County's Aquifer Protection Area (APA) renewal, which would assess roughly $15 per household and is projected to raise about $1.8 million a year for city uses if council approves putting the measure before voters and enters an interlocal agreement with the county.
Marlene Feist, presenting as director for the city, told the PIES committee the city has the opportunity to rejoin Spokane County's Aquifer Protection Area and that “the current authorization for that area expires at the end of 2025. And the county will ask voters to renew the aquifer protection area.”
The nut graf: joining the county APA would require the City Council to adopt a resolution allowing the county to place the renewal before city voters and would trigger an interlocal agreement to manage shared revenue and administration. City staff estimate the APA would raise about $1.8 million a year for spending within the city portion of the area.
Feist said state law in the Revised Code of Washington, chapter 36.36, authorizes aquifer protection areas and allows fees expressed as a dollar amount per household unit and charges for on-site sewage disposal. She described permitted uses of APA revenue including planning, construction of water-quality protection facilities, monitoring for contaminants such as nitrates and PFAS, and public education. “We would intend to continue to support” county-managed centralized education and monitoring, she said, noting the county has run an APA for about 40 years and provides data used by city water-quality staff.
Kyle Tuig, senior director of public works for Spokane County, told council members the county is leading the ballot measure and has not budgeted for participation from other jurisdictions in the formal ballot costs. “As far as the formalized cost of the ballot measure, we have not budgeted for any participation from the other jurisdictions,” Tuig said. He added the county can share estimated ballot costs as the committee prepares to vote on a resolution.
Committee members asked whether the fee is assessed monthly or annually, who receives the bill and how multi‑unit properties are charged. Feist confirmed the county charges residential households $15 a year and that commercial properties pay based on meter size; the fee appears on the property tax bill and is assessed to the property owner for multi‑family properties. The proposed APA area follows census block groups used for voter precincts—hence the irregular boundary shown in county maps.
City staff said the Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board recommended placing the APA renewal on the ballot and that the mayor supports the measure; the council must adopt a resolution to allow the county to include city precincts on the ballot question. Staff noted the city would also negotiate an interlocal agreement with Spokane County to define revenue sharing, education roles, and administration if the council votes to participate.
Ending: Council members asked staff to return the estimated ballot cost and the draft interlocal agreement language before any vote. No formal council action or vote on the APA was recorded at the PIES meeting.
