King County wants to charge higher wastewater rates

Published 10:47 am Thursday, April 22, 2010

King County has proposed increasing wastewater rates in 2011 by just over 10.2 percent.

The wholesale rate change would increase from $31.90 to $35.15 per month.

The city would pass that increase through to Bellevue customers, along with the amount needed to operate and maintain Bellevue’s wastewater-collection system.

The average wastewater rate for a Bellevue residential customer is $54.62 per month.

King County has also proposed a 2.8 percent increase in the “capacity charge” for homeowners with new sewer hookups, raising the rate from $49.90 to $50.45 per month in 2011.

Most of the proposed increase would pay for continued construction of the $1.8 billion Brightwater waste treatment system.