Let’s Talk About Portland’s Utility Rates!
Posted on May 5, 2014 by Janice Thompson
Tags, Consumers and Utility Customers, Legislative & Political, Portland Water, Sewer and Wastewater
If you’re registered to vote in Oregon, by now you’ve probably received your voter pamphlet for the May 20th election. If you live in Portland, you might have heard or read about Measure 26-156. CUB’s board elected to take a neutral stance on this matter, so CUB is here to help shed light on this topic! We’ll be releasing a series of informative blogs before May 20th to help prepare voters just like you to make an educated decision on Measure 26-156. You can follow these updates by visiting our Portland Water, Sewer and Wastewater news feed. We’ll also be announcing new posts on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, so follow us on those channels to keep up with our new water and wastewater series!
Portland’s combined water and wastewater rate ranks seventh highest among the country’s largest 50 cities. Infrastructure improvements that are required to meet environmental regulations tend to be a major driver of rate hikes. For example, the Bureau of Environmental Services built the “Big Pipe” to deal with combined sewer overflows that used to frequently occur when heavy rains overloaded the system and untreated sewage went into the Willamette River. Constructing the big pipe addressed this public health danger while bringing the city of Portland into compliance with requirements of the Clean Water Act and various other environmental quality standards. Major construction projects continue as old pipes and other equipment are replaced.
Several high-profile projects undertaken over the past several years have also had an impact on increasing rates, though much less so than the required infrastructure improvements such as the Big Pipe. These “pet projects” have been much more impactful in eroding public trust; the City Auditor’s office validated those concerns when it found each of these projects to be clearly beyond the scope of what should have been paid for with ratepayer dollars. Portland’s General Fund has paid back many of these expenses; however, CUB is committed to making sure that these abuses end, regardless of what happens with Measure 26-156.
The task of sorting out which environmental projects can be paid for with utility dollars, either because of habitat protection regulations or because of green-infrastructure benefits, can present a bigger challenge. Many environmental groups oppose Measure 26-156 due to concerns that its proponents see it as a vehicle for dramatically reducing public utility involvement in environmental projects, particularly those used to manage stormwater drainage. The Portland Tribune recently discussed the cost effectiveness of various stormwater management projects in their article, “Green Streets: function or frill”.
Litigation has also addressed questions about using ratepayers’ funds for projects beyond the basic mission of providing water and wastewater services. For example, the City Council is working on acquiring property from River View Cemetery, and an initial ruling from the Multnomah Circuit Court in March 2014 found that spending sewer funds on this purchase complies with the city charter due to its role in providing natural storm draining.
Regardless of the utility structure overseeing Portland’s water and wastewater resources, those who are responsible for oversight will have to continue the ongoing task of interpreting the intent of the city charter on the use of utility rate resources. Either way, CUB will focus on assessing the cost effectiveness of utility projects and their impact on residential ratepayers of Portland’s water and wastewater services.
Let us know what questions you have about Measure 26-156, or water and wastewater services in general, by contacting Janice Thompson at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or by phone at (503)227-1984! In our next pre-election blog installment on Wednesday May 7th, we’ll put Portland rate increases into a national context and identify the challenges of making comparisons to other cities. Stay tuned!
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04/07/17 | 0 Comments | Let’s Talk About Portland’s Utility Rates!