By Pat Roe
Special to the Weekly
Water conservation on Lopez Island will take a big step forward if the voters in the Makaye Harbor – Agate Beach vote to establish the proposed public water district.
The property owners in the district who are registered voters will vote on the district and will also elect three commissioners who will take over and manage the existing privately owned system. The commissioners will then be able to set their own rates rather than have them set in Olympia.
As in most such districts, the bulk of the day-to-day work is left to a hired manager leaving the commissioners to meet only at regular intervals to set policy and review operations. The commissioners will be able to take considerable pride in organizing the district and setting an example that could well be followed elsewhere on the island.
The pros and cons of the proposal will be in the voter’s pamphlet this fall. Unfortunately no one has been available to write the opposing view.
For 34 years, water in the area has been provided by the Mackaye Harbor Water Company, Inc. The system was built to serve the Salmon Point Community but with the capacity to serve the surrounding community. We now serve close to 60 homes, but the system is going broke. Washington law limits the company to an average charge of $300 per customer per year. The limit is raised from time to time to keep pace with inflation. That is not enough to keep pace with our rising expenses. Over the past 27 years for which I have records, the company has earned a cumulative profit of $16,110. That’s $596 per year or $3.51 cents per share of stock. Some profit!
The company hired Wayne Haefele to review the situation and recommend a solution. Wayne recommended the water district and has worked hard to get it ready to submit to the voters. There were only two other alternatives. One would be to come under regulation by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission who would in effect make all decisions in Olympia with little local input. The other would be to declare bankruptcy which might cause some interruptions in water service.
