Lakewood Council Approves Sewer Deal With 6 Percent Increase

Lakewood officials marked the city's 15th birthday during Monday night's city council meeting and passed a sewer franchise fee that translates to about $2 more a month on sewer bills.

The irony was not lost on outgoing Councilman Walter Neary.

“If we approve this, we are saying ‘happy birthday Lakewood, here’s a new tax,’” he said. “If we approve this, we are creating a new tax. I think the dream 15 years ago was that Lakewood would be different. But I guess it is not.”

Neary, who has already announced he would not seek another four-year term, said the incorporation efforts in 1995 that led to the successful city-hood vote hinged on a pledge to control spending limit. While there was never an outright pledge to limit tax increases, that tenor was clear 15 years ago.

Neary was outvoted 6-1 and the franchise deal with Pierce County passed. More sewer votes will follow in the coming weeks.

The 20-year franchise agreement allows Pierce County to continue operating the sewer system in Lakewood, and the county will pay the city a 6 percent franchise, which is a pass-through charge much like a municipal utility tax. The franchise fee is the maximum allowed, and comes to about a $2.75 increase on an average sewer bill.

It's $350,000 added to the city budget and was factored into the 2011 biennium budget, on the assumption it would pass.

The deal does not settle any charges or policies about mandatory connection to the sewer, a controversial issue for residents in the Tillicum and Woodbrook neighborhood. Those areas are finally getting sewer connections, some 30 years after the surrounding neighborhoods. The unanswered question is how to pay for the individual connections now that the main line is laid.

“You have to look at this as a first step,” said Public Works Director Don Wickstrom.

Future agreements, along with the mandatory connection policies and costs, span everything from billing administration to handling service calls and changing rates.

More sewer discussions are on the agenda for March 14.

Lakewood resident Tony Miller is already looking at legal options to stunt the franchise agreement under a possible class action lawsuit.

“We know it is just a couple of dollars, but it is a couple of dollars we are not obligated to pay,” he said.