Owners of vacant properties in the city of Port Angeles will now be subject to minimum utility fees under a new ordinance recently passed by the Port Angeles City Council. The ordinance, approved on Dec. 17, mandates that vacant residential and commercial properties within the city’s service area must pay utility base rate fees.
The rationale behind this new ordinance, according to the city, is to ensure that the costs associated with maintaining and operating essential utility services are equitably distributed among all customers. To achieve this goal, all vacant properties will be charged a minimum monthly base rate of $167.70, encompassing all utilities available within the Port Angeles service area.
The implementation of this ordinance is expected to generate additional revenue while also ensuring that all properties with access to city utilities contribute towards the expenses of maintaining and operating these services. However, Jess Straits, the Port Angeles Communications and Records Management Coordinator, indicated that a precise estimate of the revenue expected from this ordinance remains unknown at this time.
The implementation of the ordinance will occur in two phases. The initial phase, which commenced on Monday, involves charging the minimum base rate to properties that have voluntarily disconnected from utilities. Straits approximated that the combined total for all five utilities during this phase ranges between $100,000 to $200,000 per year.
The subsequent phase will involve a more detailed examination of all vacant properties to establish ownership. Vacant properties not currently connected to utilities within the service area will be addressed during this phase, which is anticipated to necessitate significant research efforts.
Straits mentioned, “The second phase will require considerably more research to determine the number of vacant properties that are not currently connected to the City’s utilities.” She added that as of now, the estimated quantity of vacant properties remains unknown, and a revenue estimate is not yet available.
The city council began exploring additional revenue options to support services in 2021. In August 2023, the Utility Advisory Committee recommended an ordinance requiring all vacant properties to pay for available utilities. These new revenue options were considered to help balance the citywide budget, offset the costs of city services, and address vacant property fees.
It is worth noting that the implementation of this ordinance is not directly linked to a specific budget deficit that the city needs to address. However, Straits pointed out that the city of Port Angeles faces challenges due to limited revenue sources available to support essential programs like police and fire services. Each year, the operational costs of the city exceed revenue estimates when balancing the budget, necessitating proactive steps to explore new revenue options to prevent potential budgetary cuts in the future that could impact community services.
In conclusion, the new ordinance requiring minimum utility fees for vacant properties in Port Angeles reflects a strategic move by the city council to promote fairness in utility cost-sharing among customers while also generating additional revenue to support essential services and mitigate budgetary challenges faced by the city.
