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NEWPORT — Rates are set to increase again next year in Newport as the city continues to fund ongoing infrastructure improvements.
After a public hearing discussing revenue for Newport’s 2026 budget, the Newport City Council voted at its Monday, Nov. 17 meeting to increase water and sewer rates, the property tax levy and miscellaneous fees. All rate changes go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
“You will be seeing these types of increases being requested in the next couple of years,” city administrator Abby Gribi said at the meeting. “I am doing everything in my power to get grants and funding that isn’t impactful to the ratepayer.”
Water and sewer rates are both increasing by 3% per cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA. Sewer rates will increase by an additional $5 and $3 for repayment of two loans: a Washington State Department of Ecology loan funding wastewater improvements, and a 2004 U.S. Department of Agriculture sewer bond. Previously, the city was not charging residents enough to cover payments for the sewer bond, city clerk Nickole North said at the meeting. With the increase, the city expects to be in compliance with repayment within six years.
In total, water and sewer rates will increase from $132 to $145 a month.
“We’re trying to take the approach of not doing these massive increases, but work needs to get done,” Gribi said. “We’re having to play a little bit of catch-up with this, so we’re trying to make it annually less impacting.”
The water and sewer rate increases passed 4-1, with council member Mark Zorica voting against them. Zorica questioned why rates were increasing again despite assurances from past city staff that they would stay the same. He and some other council members expressed concerns about rates increasing even more over the next few years, pricing lower-income individuals and families out of the city.
Gribi responded that current city staff, such as herself, have never made such assurances.
“There’s critical infrastructure needs,” Gribi said. “And rates haven’t been set up in a way in the past that gave us the buffer to be able to take on debt for these improvements without increasing rates.”
Zorica suggested Newport renegotiate its contract with Oldtown to avoid upcharging residents in Newport. Gribi said Oldtown sets its own rates; as of now, residents in Oldtown pay 16–19% of operations and maintenance and 30% of capital improvements at the wastewater plant.
“We definitely want to be great neighbors and all that kind of stuff, and we have been for 100 years,” Zorica said. “But this side of the river’s got to be a priority.”
The property tax levy is increasing by 1%, which only amounts to an additional $5,000 a year. The $5,000 will be split 70-30 between Newport’s general fund and streets fund, along with the rest of the revenue from the property tax levy. This increase passed 4-0, with council member Nathan Longly abstaining since his employer, the Pend Oreille County Assessor’s Office, is involved in the levy process.
This year the revenue was split 69-31, though the city had always split it 70-30, North said.
“Streets is actually doing fairly well right now because of [Transportation Improvement Board] projects and the way that Abby writes her grants has really helped that fund a lot,” North said. “So now we need to start funneling some of that money back into current expense.”
Passed unanimously was an updated fee schedule that included increases to certain fees.
Water and sewer late fees are both increasing from $5 to $10. At the RV Park, the fee per night and the dump fee are increasing from $40 to $50 and from $10 to $20. The threshold of annual gross revenue for non-resident business licenses was adjusted from $2,000 to $4,000, meaning only businesses within city limits with an annual gross revenue of over $4,000 will be required to pay the $20 fee. The city will adjust the threshold every 48 months.
A few other increases were passed for fees on fire hydrants, bacteria tests and more.
“If people stay on a payment plan, I will defer those, and if they come up, I can waive those. If they default, then that’s a different story,” Gribi said about the late fees. “We really do try to work with people when they’re in those circumstances.”
In other business, the Newport City Council increased compensation for public defenders, jail services and dispatch communication services through the county. County jail and dispatch communication services both negotiated 2% increases, while public defenders negotiated increases of 5% and 4.5% over two years — previously, they also accepted 2% increases. All percentages, Gribi said, were at or below the consumer price index.
