Water and Sewer General Facility Charge Increase
March 2023
Birch Bay Water and Sewer District is recommending an increase in its General Facilities Charges (GFCs) for water and sewer connections. GFCs are established to charge new connections to the water or sewer systems an equitable share of the cost of the system, including existing facilities and facilities proposed for completion within the next 10 years.
The District updated its Comprehensive Sewer System Plan and Comprehensive Water System Plan in 2020. Each plan includes an update of the 10-year capital improvement plan for each system, and updated estimates for rates of growth in the system. This update includes additions to the existing system completed through 2018.
The District last increased the GFCs in 2021. The basis for those calculations was the project cost estimates presented in the 2020 adopted water and sewer comprehensive plans, each based on estimates prepared in “2019 dollars” and adjusted to “December 2020 dollars”. The current water and sewer GFCs are $4,550 and $7,550 respectively.
Consistent with prior District practice, the cost of construction inflation since the prior update of the GFCs has been reviewed, as a basis for adjustment of the GFCs. Specifically, the cost of construction inflation has increased from December 2020 to November 2022. The Engineering News Record (ENR) Seattle Construction Cost Index (CCI) for December of 2020 was 12,840.41. The November 2022 ENR Seattle CCI is 15,202.68. This is 18.4% higher than the value 23 months prior. Applying this adjustment and rounding down to next $50 results in water and sewer GFCs of $5,350 and $8,900. That will be the staff recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.
The following factors are included in the District’s review and revision of the GFCs:
- Increased future project costs (Costs in comprehensive plans are adjusted to current dollars using the ENR CCI for Seattle)
A Public Hearing is scheduled at the regular Board of Commissioners meeting at 4:00 pm on 3/23/2023 at the District Office, 7096 Point Whitehorn Road, Birch Bay, WA 98230. If you need special accommodations, please contact 360-371-7100. The Board meetings are hybrid and a Zoom link is also available https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85805016504
Meeting ID: 858 050 165 04
