FERNDALE, Wash. – The Ferndale City Council will consider whether to mitigate a rate increase for its water users at a meeting on Monday, December 5th.
Councilmember Jon Mutchler says a sizable rate increase is locked in next year.
“Something that we did a number of years ago to make the pain a little easier is we made the increases automatic and tied to inflation,” said Mutchler. “Which kind of makes sense. It’s a loose tie to the inflation numbers. However, nobody anticipated 10 percent inflation.”
He says the council will have to take action to avoid an 8% to 10% rate increase.
Members are mulling whether to cut that to 5%, but city staff warns that would basically be “kicking the can down the road.”
Mutchler stresses that the water system is required to be self-sustaining, and all the money paid by users only funds water service and cannot be used for any other city expenses.
Listen to the full interview with Mutchler on our Podcast page.