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Soundings
Fire Hydrants Are Forever
2009
By Jean Godden
 The topic today is fire hydrants. And I wanted to let you know about an issue the city is facing over the way we had historically paid for our fire hydrants.
In late 2008, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that Seattle must repay Seattle Public Utilities ratepayers for charges made for fire hydrants from March 2002 through December 2004.
The question is not if Seattleites should pay for such basic city services as fire hydrants. Of course, we should. The question is: Which is the correct fund from which those services should be paid? Prior to 2005, the City funded hydrant services through water rates, a practice that began in the days following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 and followed by many other cities.
 Given the court’s decision, I will vote to ensure that this court-ordered repayment is made in a timely fashion from the city’s tax-supported General Fund. However, this repayment along with what is likely to be decreasing city revenues, will serve as a double whammy to the city. We anticipate we’re going to have some tough budget balancing decisions this spring – decisions that will impact services and programs that many people rely on.
To help reduce the size of those painful service cuts, I believe we should ask ratepayers – most of them also city taxpayers – to pay a temporary water rate surcharge that will provide the tax revenue needed to make the court-mandated hydrant payments. I know this will place an additional financial burden on citizens and businesses but I hope to make the process as painless as possible. We are considering spreading the surcharge over the next 18 months to significantly reduce the impact on each customer’s monthly bill. I believe this is the best possible decision given the circumstances.
I know that this situation is far from perfect, however, public ownership and support for our water utility is deeply rooted in our city’s history.
Historically citizens have paid for fire hydrants since voting to approve the creation of the municipally-owned Cedar River Water Supply system in 1889, less than a month after the Great Seattle fire. Before this time, the privately-owned water companies failed the public, allowing a small fire to race out of control taking much of the city with it.
More than 100 years later we are the proud owners of a water system and watershed which consistently provides the water we need, when we need it. Fire hydrants are just a part of this vast system and require continued public support to keep our city strong.
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