Commissioners forward proposed sanitary, stormwater and solid‑waste rate options to full commission

The Wyandotte County Public Works and Safety Standing Committee reviewed proposed rate scenarios for the county's three enterprise utilities — sanitary sewer, stormwater and solid waste — and voted unanimously to forward each item to the full commission for final consideration.

Troy Shaw, the Unified Government's public works director and county engineer, and Sarah Schaefer of public works presented a three‑tier framework for each utility (required, responsible, resilient) and proposed multiple rate scenarios intended to fund compliance, maintenance and longer‑term resilience work.

Sanitary sewer: staff described three scenarios. Sarah Schaefer said Scenario A (the status‑quo growth rate presented earlier for 2026) would maintain monitoring and defer some maintenance but "does not mean that we are compliant with our requirements." Scenario B — presented as a compliance scenario — would begin with a 1 percent increase on May 1, 2026 (an impact of roughly $0.56 per average monthly household), followed by a 7 percent increase in 2027 (roughly $3.97 per month) and would be intended to fund consent‑decree compliance, permitting and planned construction. Scenario C would front‑load additional planning and capacity work (2 percent May 1, 2026 and an 8 percent increase in 2027; roughly $1.13 then $4.61 per month) to prepare for growth in targeted sewer‑shed areas. Schaefer warned that Scenario A would leave the utility non‑compliant with the consent decree and noted stipulated penalties can range up to about $5,000 per day for some violations.

Stormwater: staff presented a range of options from maintaining current rates (to meet MS4 permit obligations and manage deferred maintenance) to a responsible scenario that would raise the average household bill modestly in 2026 and again in 2027 to fund routine inlet cleaning, pipe rehabilitation and grant‑match capacity (staff cited examples of $0.20 per bill in 2026 and an additional $0.96 per bill in 2027 in one scenario). A resilience scenario would fund watershed planning and longer‑term flood mitigation in targeted areas.

Solid waste: with the department's manager absent, Shaw explained recycling/collection pickup is contracted to Waste Management and that some internal services (city facility collection, illegal‑dumping pickup and graffiti cleanup) are currently subsidized by KCK residents. Shaw said those internal services cost roughly $669,000 annually, and staff presented scenarios that would either leave rates unchanged, retain KCK residents' current level of service (producing an illustrative $131 per‑month bill in one scenario), or shift more of those internal costs to Bonner Springs and Edwardsville (reducing the KCK resident illustration to about $120 per month).

Committee action: after questions from Commissioners about prior SS4A awards, the consent decree and the typical range of stormwater repair costs (staff estimated a wide range depending on asset type, from tens of thousands to multi‑million dollars), the committee took three separate roll‑call motions, each to "forward to full commission with no recommendation" for items 4.2 (sanitary), 4.3 (stormwater) and 4.4 (solid waste). Each motion passed 5–0 (Lopez, Hill, Ramirez, Burns, Comp).

What happens next: staff said they seek guidance and expect the full commission to set final rates, consider any ordinance changes, and address the local match and budget implications before rates take effect. Schaefer reiterated that consent‑decree compliance will require additional funding and planning over multiple years.