(The Center Square) – Owners of vacant properties in the city of Port Angeles will have to pay minimum utility fees on their buildings this year as a new ordinance is being implemented.
On Dec. 17, the Port Angeles City Council passed an ordinance that applies utility base rate fees to vacant residential and commercial properties within the city’s service area.
According to the city, this change ensures that the costs of maintaining and operating essential utility services are fairly shared among all customers.
The new ordinance requires all vacant properties to be charged the minimum monthly base rate of $167.70 per month. This includes all utilities available within the Port Angeles service area.
The ordinance is expected to bring additional revenue and ensure that all properties with access to city utilities contribute to the cost of maintaining and operating them. However, Port Angeles Communications and Records Management Coordinator Jess Straits told The Center Square a precise estimate of what will come in is unknown at this time.
The new ordinance will be implemented in two phases. The first phase started Monday, with properties that have voluntarily disconnected from utilities being charged the minimum base rate.
Straits said a rough estimate for all five utilities combined for this phase is approximately $100,000 to $200,000 per year.
The second phase is more intensive and will be implemented after a detailed review of all vacant properties to determine ownership is conducted. Vacant properties that are not currently connected to utilities within the service area will be addressed during this phase.
“The second phase will require considerably more research to determine the number of vacant properties that are not currently connected to the City’s utilities,” Straits said to The Center Square in an email. “At this time, the estimated number of vacant properties is unknown and a revenue estimate is not available.”
The city council first started considering additional revenue options to support services in 2021. The Utility Advisory Committee passed a recommendation of an ordinance to require all vacant properties pay available utilities in August 2023.
New revenue options were considered in order to balance the citywide budget including offsetting the city’s cost to perform services and vacant property fees. Notably, there is no specific budget gap that the city is filling as a result of this ordinance.
“The city of Port Angeles has limited revenue sources available to provide essential programs, such as police and fire services – each year, the cost increases for city operations exceed the revenue estimates when balancing the budget,” Straits said. “The consideration of new revenue options is a proactive step to prevent budgetary cuts in the future which could impact the services our city provides the community.”
