Medical Lake council evaluates water plan

MEDICAL LAKE – The city may have to make changes to its overall water plan.

That concern was among several issued discussed Oct. 5.

City Administrator Doug Ross said the city purchases a large portion of the water from the state, and the state recently doubled the cost.

The budget may be affected, according to Ross, as the price per thousand gallons jumped from 56 cents to $1.12.

Ross said the easiest way to alleviate that additional cost is for the city to utilize some of the newly renovated sections of the water system and pull more water from the local wells.

The city can also get water from Spokane County at 200 gallons per minute, but the county charges $1.87 per thousand gallons, Ross said.

Most budget material is on par for annual averages, and Spokane County Solid Waste will be paying $13,000, about 75 % of the cost of the yard waste trailer that is in Medical Lake, Ross said.

The street fund can be difficult to fund, as most of the funding comes from gas tax revenue, the administrator said.

Higher gas prices increased the recent revenue for the street fund, although the street fund is subject to change quickly in winter.

Ross said early and heavy snowfall can work through the road funds quickly, so it is very early and tough to provide exact numbers at this point.

The city can write grants for some street funds, but typically the only grants that are approved are relevant to well-connected and well-traveled roadways.

Ross said the general fund is looking “very sound” and if the sales tax rate remains steady the general fund will be close to $100,000 over last year’s mark.

Ross also said discussions about bringing in broadband services led him to find out it would possibly cost as much as $10 million and would be a multi-year project.

Some of this funding could come from grants if the city qualifies.

Installing broadband services to the community also faces another hurdle, that being the company will want to be able to make a profit, he said.

MatthewO. Stephens can be reached at [email protected]