Note: The agenda, minutes, and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on October 22, 2024, but per instruction the date is given as October 25, 2024. This summary uses the provided date but notes the discrepancy.
The Yakima City Council held a study session on October 25, 2024, beginning with a 30-minute executive session on collective bargaining at 4:30 p.m., followed by the public study session at 5:00 p.m. The meeting covered a domestic water rate and fee study, a resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission for traffic safety emphasis patrols, and a comprehensive review of the proposed 2025-2026 biennial priority-based budget across all city departments. No public comments were received. The meeting adjourned at 9:44 p.m. after the budget presentations.
The Council heard presentations from department heads outlining their 2025-2026 proposed budgets. Key points from each:
I call the regular meeting, excuse me, the study session of um October twenty second, twenty twenty four. Yakim City Council back to order. We'll start with roll call, please. Here. Brown. Here. Buyers. DCO? Here. Glenn. Here. Herrera? Here. Roy. Here. Thank you. Next on the agenda is public comment. If anyone wishes to make public comment, we'll have 15 minutes tonight. Each person will be allowed two and a half minutes. If you want to make a public comment, please fill out a form in the lobby and bring it to the city clerk. When to come to the podium, please identify yourself by your name and the city in which you live. Do we have anything for public comments so far? Mr. Beeler, do we have any online public comment this evening? No, Mayor Byrus, we do not. Excuse me. Um, in regard to uh the water division, the public's expectation is that no matter the time of day or night, when they go to turn on a faucet, they expect reliable, clean, and safe drinking water. But at the same time, they also have the expectation that the city has sufficient fire suppression during an emergency. So to support the fire department. These expectations have costs associated with them. Having implementing a rate study that accurately reflects the true cost of providing the essential service is crucial. It should include the cost of such things as labor, fuel, material supplies, and even capital improvement projects to keep the infrastructure in good repair. But it also should allow to meet those demands of the customers' increased demands over the years. Rates should also be fair and equitable to the users. Failure to support a proper rate structure begins to erode at the financial stability of the utility and its ability to provide the essential service that residents and community members depend upon. As you'll see tonight, FCS group has put together proposed rates for the water division over the course of 2025 through 2029. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mike Shane, our water irrigation manager. So evening, Madam Mayor, Council members. Dog 8, uh Aukar, and FCS group have performed a detailed review of our water utilities finances, including current assets, operational and capital expenditures, reserve balance, debt service, and the revenue requirements that support those expenditures in 2029. He has also provided a review of our connection charges to support our capital investments, as well as our installation fees that recover the actual cost for new water service installations. So I'll let Tog A take it from here. All right, thank you. So as Scott mentioned earlier, we were here a couple of months ago at that time, focused more on wastewater stormwater. Today will be focused on the water utility. And we've broken up the study into a couple of phases. We'll be presenting on phase one tonight. That's more of the overall revenue needs. What's that impact on the bi-monthly rates that all customers pay? But also looking at the connection charges, those are the one-time charges that growth and development pay as they build and connect to the water system. So overall, you know, stripping it down to the basics.