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Bellevue environmental panel unanimously backs three sewer rate design changes and sends recommendation to council

Environmental Services Commission · January 8, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The Environmental Services Commission voted unanimously to recommend three sewer rate-design proposals — a single-family volumetric simplification, restructuring of the multi-family fixed charge (phased in five years), and aligning nonresidential minimum charges with King County treatment costs — for city council consideration as part of the 2027–28 rate ordinance.

The Environmental Services Commission voted unanimously Jan. 8 to recommend three proposed changes to Bellevue’s sewer rate design that staff said aim to improve equity across customer classes while limiting abrupt bill shocks.

Staff asked the commission to forward a package that would: replace the single-family two-tier volumetric approach with a single uniform volumetric charge of $8.54 per 100 cubic feet (CCF); remove an 11-CCF allowance embedded in the multi-residential fixed charge and index that fixed charge to the class’s share of wholesale King County treatment costs with a five-year phase-in; and tie the minimum charge for nonresidential customers to the single-family wholesale-equivalent treatment cost.

"The cost-recovery study shows our multi-residential class collects about 123% of its cost, and that's effectively…

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