UTILITY RATE INCREASES FOR BLAINE AND BIRCH BAY

Blaine's growth ambitions require massive capital investment to expand and upgrade utility infrastructure and those costs flow directly to ratepayers. Accelerating infrastructure buildout for new development creates a pent-up rate increase scenario. Utility Financial Solutions LLC has been engaged to develop a six-year rate strategy for all four utilities (electric, potable water, sewer, stormwater), with new rates targeted for January 1, 2027. The City's own budget includes a line item for a Water Rate Study as part of the 2026 utility engineering services, confirming that rate restructuring is actively underway.

The City's 2026 budget reflects $1,236,640 in "City Light-Water-WW Utility Tax" revenue flowing into the General Fund — meaning the city taxes its own utility operations and channels the proceeds to general government. Residents effectively pay twice — once for utility service, and again through embedded utility taxes that subsidize city operations. When revenue necessity drives zoning, environmental and procedural safeguards become obstacles rather than requirements.

The City of Blaine's strategy of using rapid residential densification to offset its structural fiscal deficit contains a fundamental self-defeating mechanism: every new resident it adds to close the revenue gap simultaneously generates new, permanent, and unionized public service costs that outpace the incremental revenue those residents produce. Abundant precedent from Washington's small cities demonstrates that this model does not close the gap; it expands it, while mortgaging existing residents' utility costs and neighborhood character against future revenues that may never materialize at the required scale.

The central lie embedded in Blaine's growth strategy is the assumption that new residential units are net revenue-positive for the city. They are frequently not — particularly in small cities with growing service demands.

Blaine's growth will require new police services, fire response capacity, utility maintenance, street maintenance, parks, and code enforcement. Washington State already ranks last in the nation for police staffing ratios. Blaine in 2024 operated at a commissioned officer staffing level of 1.85 officers per 1,000 residents. Adding thousands of new residents without adding officers drives that ratio lower, until political and safety pressure forces new hires.

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The 2025 budget document confirms what this already looks like: the city budgeted for two new officer academy hires, acknowledged the Community Resource Officer position remains unfunded and unstaffed, and noted code enforcement is unfunded entirely. These are existing gaps before bringing new residents demanding police response.

The City of Stanwood, Washington offers a direct and fully documented precedent for Blaine's trajectory. Since 2011, Stanwood's population grew 45% (from 6,220 to 9,010 residents) — roughly the scale Blaine is targeting. Public safety costs increased 94%. In 2026, Stanwood was forced to put a public safety sales tax on the August ballot just to maintain current service levels and add officers.