Spokane County Commissioners to consider expanding, reforming rate structure of stormwater system

Residents in unincorporated areas of Spokane County are likely to see some changes to their monthly stormwater charges next year.

The Spokane County Board of Commissioners will vote Tuesday on amendments to the county code that would increase the service area and associated fees for the county’s stormwater system.

The proposed changes are part of a periodic update to the county’s stormwater comprehensive plan, and would help lead to better maintenance of the existing infrastructure in unincorporated areas, said Matt Zarecor, a Spokane County engineer.

The proposal being considered next week would expand the service area to all unincorporated areas of Spokane County, in what would be the first major change to the boundary in more than 30 years, Zarecor said. At present, the county charges fees for managing stormwaters on the West Plains, around Glenrose, and on the outskirts of the city limits of Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley and Spokane.

The proposal would also standardize what those fees look like countywide, with the average single-family home being charged an annual rate of $48 in 2026, which will increase each year by $12 until 2029.

Zarecor and Public Works Director Kyle Twohig told the commissioners in a briefing meeting earlier this month that the existing model has not kept pace with increased construction costs, water quality standards and maintenance needs. The county’s 5,100 lane miles make up the largest county road system in the state, and there are a litany of culverts, ditches, small bridges and roadways in the system in need of repair.

Establishing a standardized rate to be charged countywide would bring in an additional $3.5 million in 2026, and more in subsequent years, according to county estimates. That funding would allow the county to address the “huge swath of unfunded maintenance needs throughout the entire county,” Twohig said.

“This is not dollars that are just going to go to one area of the county, or one little component,” Twohig said. “This is going to be touching every road in the county in some way or another, and that presence will be seen and felt by our constituents.”

Twohig said the expansion of the service area and standardization of rates would be a “double win,” because it would secure funding for managing the proper drainage of stormwaters while also helping to preserve local roadways. The funding could be used for road maintenance, and improvements to the stormwater system would, in theory, lead to less flooding, freezing and erosion.

The flooding and freezing Spokane County experienced in February led to more than $1.5 million in damages to local roadways, which highlights the need for effective stormwater management, Twohig said. The cost of the repairs is roughly equivalent to the savings Public Works saw this past season as a result of a light winter, Zarecor added.

“Not only could we have funded this in stormwater, but also it’s that preventative work,” Twohig said, gesturing to images of buckled pavement and crevasses formed by the runoff. “We would have been able to prevent a significant amount of damage.”

Spokane County Commissioners’ legislative meetings are typically held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the board’s hearing chambers in the county’s Public Works building at 1026 W. Broadway Ave.