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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5483 ORDINANCE NO. 5 4 8 3 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON RE-ENACTING, APPROVING AND CONFIRMING FEE AND RATE INCREASES, FROM DATE OF PASSAGE IN CONSIDERATION OF THE UNCERTAIN STATUS OF INITIATIVE 722 AND ITS EFFECT FOR THE PURPOSES OF PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE ENTERPRISE FUNDS AND/OR UTILITY FUNDS, DECLARING AN EMERGENCY EXISTS, SETTING FORTH THE FACTS TO SUBSTANTIATE THE EMERGENCY ALLOWING FOR THE IMMEDIATE PASSAGE OF THIS ORDINANCE. WHEREAS, the City operates utility services to provide essential functions and operations to its citizens for the protection of and the preservation of the citizens' public health, safety and welfare, and WHEREAS, such utilities include, and are not limited to, garbage, water, sewer, and storm all of which are essential to public health, and WHEREAS, the City is required to maintain separate funds for each of its utilities, also known as enterprise funds, in which the integrity of those funds must be maintained by providing that revenues are sufficient to cover expense funds and capitals costs with each fund, and WHEREAS, there are certain expenses that are incurred in each enterprise account which are beyond the control of the City including as examples, but not limited to, the tipping fees and fuel costs for the garbage utility, the pumping costs and water line replacement costs on the water utility, and Ordinance No.:5483 December 4, 2000 Page 1 WHEREAS, the City is required, under enterprise accounting, to adjust its rates to cover costs for each legally separate fund, keep each fund solvent and to not allow one fund from being subsidized by another fund of the City, and WHEREAS, the state voters did in November 2000 pass State Initiative 722, which initiative is being contested by certain cities in the State of Washington which, among other remedies, requested an injunction as to the effectiveness of the initiative until its validity is established by the court, and WHEREAS, Thurston County Superior Court did on November 30, 2000 allow a temporary injunction, but only as to the cities that were plaintiffs in the litigation, and WHEREAS, at that point the City of Auburn was not a party to the litigation and therefore the affect of 1-722 upon the City is uncertain and it is further uncertain as to the City's requirements to carry out the mandates of I- 722 when 1-722 has been challenged and an injunction issued as to a limited amount of cities in the State of Washington, and WHEREAS, the City desires to comply with the mandates of its constituents, however, it is further required to maintain the financial integrity of its utility and/or enterprise funds and to further maintain the financial integrity of the entire City financial system, and Ordinance No.:5483 December 4, 2000 Page 2 WHEREAS, due to the uncertainty of 1-722 and its validity the City is passing two essential companion ordinances due to the uncertain affect of either one, one re-establish and re-affirming and re-passing its rate and/or fee increases that occurred in the roll back time of 1-722 by re-establishing them on January 1, 2000 forward, which is done in Ordinance No. 5480 and enacting this ordinance in the event it is found the retroactive application is invalid wherein this ordinance re-establishes, re-affirms and re-passes the utility and fee rates from the passage of this ordinance forward, and WHEREAS, an emergency is declared to exist to allow passage of the ordinance upon which facts constituting the emergency include, but are not limited to, the superior court's holding with regard to the application of Initiative 722 and the injunctive relief applying only to the cities that are part of that litigation, and the necessity of protecting the financial integrity of its funds by providing that expenses are covered by revenues, which would not occur, if all of the fees and rates were rolled back, and to protect the City from a possible rebate under some interpretations of Initiative 722, which rebate would be more costly to implement than the amount of funds rebated to its customers and be, from a practical standpoint, almost impossible to effectuate equitably since the customer base could have undergone changes, and Ordinance No.:5483 December 4, 2000 Page 3 WHEREAS, certain enterprise funds have incurred the long term obligation of bond indebtedness which are paid out of revenues less expenses, and WHEREAS, the bonds are held by third parties which there is a fiduciary duty to maintain adequate amount, s of revenue in excess of expenses to pay the obligations owed to third party bond holders, which if not done, violates conditions under the bonds, further necessitating rate and/or fees adjustments to meet these obligations. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUBURN, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1: All rates and fees adjusted in 1999 are hereby re-enacted, approved and confirmed effective this date, if Ordinance No. 5480 is invalid for any reason. Section 2: The facts set forth above are hereby confirmed to authorize the immediate passage of this ordinance. Section 3: If any provision of this ordinance, or any individual fee or rate increase affected by this ordinance, is determined to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining fee and/or rate increases that were not determined to be invalid or unenfomeable shall remain valid and in force and affect. Ordinance No.:5483 December 4, 2000 Page 4 Section 4: This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage. INTRODUCED: Dece. r~oe~ 4, 2000 PASSED: December 4, 2000 APPROVED: December 4, 2000 CHARLES A. BOOTH MAYOR ATTEST: Dan~ielle E. Daskam, City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Michael J. Reynolds, City Attorney Published: Ordinance No. :5483 December 4, 2000 Page 5