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Snohomish County PUD official says water rates will rise 'just under 10%'; cites infrastructure, lead removal work

2142440 ยท January 14, 2025

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Summary

Jeff Calstrom, Snohomish County PUD chief water operations officer, told the Lake Stevens City Council the utility plans a rate adjustment under 10% covering both customer and commodity charges and described recent lead-service remediation and infrastructure work.

Jeff Calstrom, chief water operations officer at Snohomish County Public Utility District, appeared as an informal guest during the Jan. 14 Lake Stevens City Council meeting and described a planned water rate adjustment and ongoing infrastructure projects.

Calstrom said the utility is proposing a rate adjustment "just under 10%" and that the increase will be applied equally to the monthly customer charge and the commodity (usage) charge. "We are looking at a rate adjustment just under 10% so it is a healthy and impactful adjustment," he said, adding the utility will work to avoid making this recurring where possible.

Calstrom outlined capital and operational priorities that underlie the proposal: removing aging mains, eliminating asbestos-containing materials from the system, and completing work to confirm the utility does not have lead service material. "We recently completed an effort to ensure that we don't have lead anywhere in the system both on the customer side and on the utility side and that was ... we can say that we do not have lead service material," he told the council.

When council members asked about developer hookup or capital facility charges, Calstrom said the utility is scheduled to review those fees in a later planning process and currently has no immediate plan to raise hookup charges. He offered to provide specific current hookup fees after the meeting.

Calstrom also invited council members and staff to visit PUD facilities and said he hoped to attend future council meetings when there are substantive items to present. The exchange was informational; no council votes or directive actions followed from the appearance.