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Okanogan County PUD commissioners are considering a change to rates to account for the state taxes imposed on the district, which are not currently designated on customer bills. Although city-based utility bills show taxes charged by the city of residence, the district has not shown state taxes on customer bills although those taxes are paid to the state annually.
General Manager Steve Taylor said that the district is still considering a 3.25 percent overall average revenue increase, but he proposed that customer bills be adjusted to show all taxes that the district is required to collect. The district pays a state privilege tax of 2.14 percent and state public utility tax of 3.8734 percent on all power sales currently. Any city-based taxes collected by the district are in addition to those amounts.
On an example bill, the average residential customer uses 1,400 kilowatt-hours monthly, amounting to about $111. If the district were to raise rates to highlight the state tax amounts, it would be approximately $6 more per month. Taylor said that would be more than the rate increase proposed, so the kWh charge could be reduced to avoid the additional burden to ratepayers. If the tax portion were shown on the bill, then customers could better understand where their dollars go – the district pays about $2.8 million to state taxes annually.
“If taxes are imposed by somebody else, I think they should get credit for it,” Commissioner Jerry Asmussen said.
The district has been considering rate increases to go into effect April 1, 2021, to keep up with the increasing costs the district faces. A public hearing regarding the budget and rates continues to be open through at least two more board meetings in December.
The board will meet early at 2 p.m. for an additional work session to discuss rate adjustment options on Dec. 7, followed by the regular 3 p.m. meeting.
More information about board meetings and past discussions are available on the district’s website, www.okanoganpud.org. Meetings are being conducted via Zoom due to pandemic restrictions.
In other business, the board: