Water and sewer bills are getting even higher for Pasco residents
Pasco will have the highest water and sewer connection fees in all the Tri-Cities starting in January next year. And residents also will notice higher water and sewer utility rates starting March 1, 2026.
After heated public comment and lengthy discussion, the Pasco City Council voted Monday to increase the city’s water and sewer utility rates and set higher connection fees for new users starting Jan. 1.
The vote was 5-2. Mayor Charles Grimm and council members Abel Campos, Joe Cotta, Mark Figueroa and Calixto Hernandez voted in favor of the increases. Mayor Pro-Tem David Milne and Councilman Leo Perales voted ‘no.’
Combined monthly water and sewer bills for a typical single-family home will increase by about $9-$11 in 2026, $11-$13 in 2027, $9-$13 in 2028 and $9 in 2029.
That’s an annual 8% increase for sewer rates for the next four years, paired with the maximum allowed connection fees, and a 20.75% increase for water utilities each year for the next three years.
Connection fees are one-time charges for new development and expanded water connections.
These fees have been historically unpredictable, but low in Pasco.
The new fee structure bases fees on meter size rather than lot size. The estimated maximum connection fees for a single-family home with a 3/4-inch meter are about $6,150 for water, $4,600 for sewer and $1,500 for irrigation.
Replacement and expansion drives higher rates, fees
Revenue from water utility rates will pay to replace the 100-year-old Butterfield Water Treatment Plant and existing water lines in the city.
New water utility connection fees will fund expansion projects, including work on the West Pasco Water Treatment Plant, a storage reservoir, a development upsize program and water line extensions.
Sewer utilities will fund improvements to the lift station on 9th Avenue and Washington Street. Both utilities and sewer connection fees will cover upsizing the Rivershore trunk main and improvements at the wastewater treatment plant. Sewer connection fees will cover building new lift stations and a development upsize program.
The city recently hosted community feedback sessions on this topic with two groups: residents and developers.
A major concern from local developers is affordability, both for them and new homebuyers.
Developers in Pasco have noticed a high inventory of housing and the challenges that buyers face purchasing a home.
A few told the council Monday that the increased connection fees will be passed onto homebuyers, causing people to be priced out of Pasco.
Other requests from developers included that the city find other local, state and federal funding, phase in connection fees, eventually sunset connection fees, and grandfather in preliminary plats.
There were few residents who attended their feedback session. But overall they prefer for the city to use other tax revenues to manage utilities and for growth to pay for growth, says the city’s agenda report.
How does Pasco compare?
Pasco’s residential water and sewer utility rates are already higher than Kennewick and Richland’s rates.
Maximum new connection fees in Pasco will go from being the lowest in the region to outpacing Richland and Kennewick.
West Richland’s rates and fees are higher than Tri-Cities’ rates across the board.
