(The Center Square) – The Bellingham Public Works Department is considering utility rate increases with combined monthly costs for homeowners increasing $54 over the next three years in order to repair 100-year-old pipe infrastructure.
The proposed combined-utility-wide bill increase is set at 12.7% in 2026, or approximately $152 per month for a single-family home.
In 2027, utility bill costs would increase an additional 13.1% to an average monthly bill of $172, and then to $189 in 2028.
“Yes this is going to be a heavy lift for our community, but we’re also finding ourselves in this position because the sticker shock was great in the past and people didn’t want to push forward,” Bellingham City Councilmember Hannah Stone said during Monday’s Public Works and Natural Resources Committee meeting.
The department acknowledges that the rate increases may be challenging for customers, but state in a study memorandum that the recommended rate increases are the “least burdensome among the viable actions that provide sufficient funding for water and sewer capital needs.”
Bellingham’s water capital projects are estimated to total $246.8 million over the next 10 years. Assistant Public Works Director Mike Wilson said there are areas of deficiencies within the department’s water storage facility that need to be addressed. That will cost the city $84.4 million alone. The water pipeline network will also need to be replaced.
As for sewer capital projects, costs over the next decade total $233.6 million. Public Works Interim Co-Director Mike Olinger noted that Bellingham’s wastewater collection pipes were built in the 1920s, meaning the 100-year-old pipe network needs to be replaced.
According to a presentation to the Bellingham Budget and Finance Committee, delaying action on the utility rates would lead to higher rate increases in future years in order to meet debt to revenue ratios.
The increased utility bills also add revenue for the city’s capital projects, as well as its Utility Customer Assistance Program, which allows 10% discounts to a small number of eligible customers. As of now, the program is only eligible for low-income households with senior or disabled adults. The expanded program would simply allow low-income households to be eligible.
Currently, out of the $135 an average household pays in 2025 toward utility bills, $1.30 goes toward the program. With the proposed increases, $2.60 would go toward the program in 2026 and continue increasing annually to $4.65 going toward the program by 2028.
By expanding the program, the discount will be increased from 10% to 25%, which could triple the number of program participants over the next few years, according to Public Works Department staff.
They also reviewed the impact of the combined utility rate increases; it is being recommended that the city’s Lake Whatcom Watershed fee be held constant for the next three years before increasing by annual inflation starting in 2029.
“We don’t feel like that is going to hurt the Lake Whatcom Property Acquisition Program, we have significant reserves in that fund and we think we will be able to continue moving forward with the property acquisition as we’ve planned out over the next three years,” Olinger said.
The final reading of the proposed utility rates is scheduled for July 21. The new rates, if approved, would go in effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
