AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Residents are going to have to pay more for sewage and garbage collection.
The rate change, which encompassed water, sewage, and garbage collection taxes, was approved by the City Council, 5-1, during its Dec. 18 meeting.
One councilman abstained from the vote..
“After the well contamination, the water rate hasn’t changed in over 10 years,” City Manager Albert Tripp said. “The consumer price index has increased 39%.
“The new tax is adjusting this rate.”
The water tax has been adjusted from 19.8% to 19% to account for issues with the city’s computer systems, Tripp said.
“Each of these represents points that the finance department has come up with to provide additional revenue services, and they ultimately decided to package all of these taxes together,” he said. “We had originally considered a larger percentage, but the reason for the increase from 15% to 19% on the sewer was to maintain a semblance of fairness.”
The council also ppproved increasing the tax rate for garbage collection from 10% to 19% during the meeting.
Clare is an Eastern Washington University graduate and a reporter at Free Press Publishing.
Reader Comments(0)