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County presents Belfair sewer ERU audit and recommends customer notices and leak-credit thresholds
Summary
Mason County staff presented an audit of Belfair sewer ERUs using Belfair Water District consumption data and recommended notifying affected customers, reviewing ERUs every two years and creating a staff-level leak-credit threshold with board review for catastrophic incidents.
Mason County staff briefed commissioners on an audit of equivalent residential units (ERUs) for the Belfair sewer system and proposed customer notice, review frequency and leak-credit policies on June 24.
Why it matters: ERU calculations determine sewer billing and help the county plan capacity and rate-setting. Staff matched county account records with actual water-consumption data from the Belfair Water District and identified 32 commercial accounts (out of 465 total accounts reviewed) with ERU adjustments: some increases and some decreases. Staff said the largest single account increase would be about 12 ERUs; the largest reduction was about 19.1 ERUs for a grocery store (QFC) that had been assigned an inflated ERU previously.
County utilities manager Stephanie described the methodology: the county used annual water consumption (divided by the standard 7,564 cubic feet per ERU) and reviewed water use for calendar year 2023 and partial 2024 data. She recommended notifying customers of any ERU change with a six-month lead time and performing an ERU review every two years to keep billing fair and aligned with actual water use. She also recommended giving staff the authority to approve leak credits below a usage threshold (e.g., under 10,000 cubic feet) while referring very large incidents to the board for review.
Commissioners asked for more detail on which businesses would see changes and for comparative wastewater charges in neighboring jurisdictions to understand competition in Belfair's commercial corridor. Commissioners also raised the issue of very high-usage single-family accounts where occupant counts or hidden connections may drive unusually high consumption; staff said those would be investigated.
Leak-credit policy: Commissioners discussed a hardship or exception path for very large, catastrophic billing incidents (for example, where infrastructure beyond the customer's control caused exceptionally large bills). Staff agreed to draft a policy option allowing the board to review extraordinary cases and to provide staff-level authority for smaller leak credits.
Next steps: Staff will provide a detailed list of affected commercial accounts, return with comparative wastewater rates for neighboring jurisdictions, finalize customer notice timing and draft a leak-credit policy that includes a mechanism for board review of extraordinary cases. Any proposed ERU changes would be publicly noticed and implemented with the agreed lead time.
