Investing in clean water - where does your money go? 
Wastewater infrastructure is crucial for protecting water quality and economic vitality, and supporting jobs and growth while maintaining our region’s natural assets like beaches, lakes and rivers. King County's wastewater utility is entirely funded by the ratepayers who invest in our programs and services through their monthly rate and capacity charge bills. We take seriously our obligation to provide the highest levels of service and accountability to our ratepayers. Standard & Poor's and Moody’s Investor Services are leading global financial firms that rate corporate stocks and municipal bonds according to risk profiles. In 2008 the firms upgraded the ratings to the Wastewater Treatment Division’s bonds, citing: - Strong management practices
- Continued positive financial performance
- Solid rate base and large service area
- Commitment to a capital improvement plan
The Moody's rating for these sewer revenue bonds, as well as similar bonds issued in the past, went from A1 to Aa3 while S&P raised their rating from AA to AA+. Both rating agencies also upgraded their underlying rating for the utility’s variable rate bonds by one notch to A2 (Moody’s) and AA- (S&P). The favorable credit ratings will lower the cost of borrowing by reducing the amount of debt service, which, in turn, reduces impacts to the rate
Revenues
King County’s adopted wastewater budget for 2009 includes about $270.4 million in revenue from the sewer rate and about $34.8 million in revenue from the capacity charge. The 2009 budget also includes about $14.1 million from investments and about $2.0 million from other income such as fees for industrial waste and sewage removed from septic tanks. King County also borrows bonds to fund the cost of construction projects under its capital improvement program. |
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Expenditures
Of the total revenue (about $321 million), the Wastewater Treatment Division is budgeted to spend about $104.2 million to operate and maintain its facilities and about $217.5 million for planning, designing and building facilities. In 2009, the $321 million in operating revenue is allocated as follows:
| Treatment |
$180.4 million |
56.2% |
| Conveyance |
$74.2 million |
23.1% |
| Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control |
$25.4 million |
7.9% |
| Biosolids |
$11.0 million |
3.4% |
| Other |
$30.2 million |
9.4% | |
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