Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media.
As reported yesterday, The Dalles City Council voted to raise water rates in The Dalles. That increase takes place February 1 and will be reflected in the March bill. The rate has not been raised in a number of years and is needed to update much of the system.
The increase was part of an annual amendment to the city fees in general.
Most city fees will stay the same, and the monthly base fee for water will drop more than $2 from $55.30 to $53.21. But that base fee, which currently includes the first 10,000 gallons of usage, will now just cover the first 7,000 gallons of usage. At the same time, the rate charged for each additional 1,000 gallons over the base rate is going up from $1.68 to $1.87.
The bottom line is, if you have been using 10,000 gallons of water a month, you’ve been paying the flat $55.30 a month. After the increase, you’ll pay $53.21 for the first 7,000 gallons plus $1.87 x 3 for those additional 3,000 gallons. That’ brings your cost to $58.82 for 10,000 gallons, a net increase of just over 10 percent.
A few minor planning department fees will increase, but the big change there is the creation of a short-term rental license with a $500 annual fee, and the deletion of the $250 docking fee for ships that have leased the docks.
Councilors were filled in on the latest audits of both the city and of the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport. Andrew Sherwood of the accounting firm delivered the good news:
“All the responses were timely. The information we asked for was sufficient for what we had to test. We didn’t have anything to correct. You don’t have any modifications — which is exactly what you want to see.”
Though the City of The Dalles and Klickitat County jointly own the airport, the city has an agreement with the county that the city will handle the accounting work on the airport.
Councilors also adopted a 2025 housing production strategy, with some of the goals mandated by the state. That drew this thoughtful comment from councilor Dan Richardson:
“The housing shortage and homelessness and the precarious conditions that a lot of folks live in is not just an out-there-for-those-kind-of-people problem; It’s a right here for our people kind of problem. While this is an imposition by the state and is sort of one more brick to carry around in a wheelbarrow full of bricks that is plenty heavy already, it’s also kind of necessary.”
And councilors approved the purchase of a 10-yard dump truck for the city’s public works department.
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