Langley may approve a rate increase for city water customers that could be in effect as early as January.

After an eight-month, in-house study, a water rate review committee recommended to the Langley City Council at a workshop meeting Oct. 29 that it should approve an ordinance to raise rates. The rate increase would fund capital improvements and maintenance to the water system.

Committee members are city administrator Lynn Hicks, public works director Rick Hill, clerk/treasurer Debbie Mahler, city engineer Ryan Goodman, and city council member Jim Recupero.

Hicks said an increased new construction connection fee will be one of the most expensive aspects of the proposed ordinance.

“We recognize it’s a significant increase,” Hicks said.

A single family residence is currently charged $1,500 to connect to Langley’s water system. If the ordinance recommended by the committee is approved, that amount would jump to $4,700. Duplex connection fees would rise from $3,000 to $8,400. Additional dwelling units, triplexes and apartments, cottage housing and commercial classifications would also see fee increases for new hookups.

The numbers got no argument from council members at the workshop.

“The fee should be raised and I agree with that,” said Jim Recupero.

Council member Ray Honerlah, who was also at the workshop, agreed with Recupero. While he said he does not want to see the city charge more than is needed, he said the increase is justified.

The city of Langley decided to consider raising rates after the Seattle civil engineering firm Hammond Collier Wade Livingstone recommended Langley increase its water rates in its six-year comprehensive plan.

To save money, the city decided formed an in-house water rate review committee instead of paying an outside firm to do this work. This saved Langley approximately $20,000.

Hicks said doing the work in house only increases the knowledge city staff has in the area rate-making structures.

“They worked very hard in the last six months on this,” said Langley Mayor Lloyd Furman of the committee’s study.

He said the committee went through a detailed and thorough analysis to find out how much and where money from a rate increase will be needed.

The committee came up with two different proposals, which would both bring in the same amount of revenue from 2004 to 2009 — almost $2 million. The rate increase would be used to pay for capital projects, like replacing almost 4,000 feet of water mains and upgrading a reservoir pump station.

At the workshop, city council members spoke in favor of a proposal that would raise the base water rate from the current $11 a month to $15 a month in 2004, and the per-1,000-gallon rate to $2.30 from $1.50. The average family with a daily demand of 196 gallons a day — or 5,880 gallons a month — would see its bi-monthly bill rise from $42.40 to $61.05 in 2004. The rate would slowly rise every year until 2009, when the same single family residence would pay about $77 every two months — or approximately $200 more a year.

By comparison, Coupeville currently pays a $20 base rate, and approximately $5.51 per 1,000 gallons. The same average family bill in that town is approximately $106 every two months.

Hicks said the city encourages city water customers to attend tonight’s city council meeting so a possible rate increase doesn’t come as a surprise, as happened to Scatchet Head residents recently.

“We just didn’t want that,” said Hicks. “We want to let people know what’s going on.”