Thurston PUD Fact Sheet
here are the financials
FACT 1:
The $66 "Administrative Tax
The PUD operates like a high-priced subscription service. Under the 2026 rates, residents are being forced to pay massive fixed fees regardless of how much water they conserve.
The Math: If you live in a Group A system like Pattison, you pay a $48.69 Base Rate, a $16.00 Capital Surcharge, and a $1.78 PFAS Surcharge.
The Reality: That is $66.47 in mandatory overhead before a single drop of water leaves your tap. For many families on fixed incomes, these administrative fees cost up to 13 times more than their actual water usage.
FACT 2:
The PFAS "Forever Chemical" Double-Charge
The PUD is currently charging 9,100 households a $1.78 monthly "Emerging Contaminants Surcharge" to pay for PFAS clean-up. This is a tax on the victims, not the polluters.
The Receipts: According to their own financial documents, the PUD has already secured OVER $10 Million in state and federal grants/loan forgiveness for PFAS, plus another $1.2 Million in direct cash settlements from the polluters (3M and DuPont).
The Question: If the PUD is sitting on millions in grants and settlement cash, why are they permanently taxing ratepayers for the cleanup?
The PUD admits they secured nearly $7 million in 100% forgiven state loans to build treatment plants. They also admit they have already received over $643,000 in 3M settlement cash. The Board Chair publicly admitted the EPA does not even require compliance until 2029.
The Reality: The installation is paid for, the polluters are paying damages, and the deadline is years away. Yet, the current Board still voted to slap a new, permanent $1.78 monthly "Emerging Contaminant" tax on 9,100 working families.
FACT 3:
The $2 Million Capital & Emergency Waivers
Every month, the PUD extracts $16 from your bank account for their "Capital Improvement" fund. Across all connections, this generates $2 Million a year in cash. * The Debt: Instead of using that cash efficiently, the PUD still takes out massive state loans (like a $500,000 loan for Pattison upgrades), effectively double-charging residents.
The Inefficiency: Because of a lack of proactive maintenance, the PUD constantly relies on "Emergency Bid Waivers" to fix failing pipes. This allows them to bypass competitive bidding and use their own internal administrative/engineering rates, which they bill at an astonishing $115 to $165 per hour.
FACT 4:
The Threat to South County Aquifers
The State and County are pushing to build massive industrial Lithium Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) directly over our rural South County aquifers in Rochester and Tenino.
The County Hearing Examiner recently admitted that groundwater contamination plans for these toxic battery farms are not even finalized. Yet, the PUD establishment remains silent.
If toxic fire suppressants or lithium leach into our wells, the PUD will just pass the cleanup bill to you. We cannot let Thurston County become the sequel to Erin Brockovich.
FACT 5:
Your Property Taxes Pay for Their Boardroom, Not Your Water
Many voters don’t realize that in addition to water bills, the Thurston PUD also collects an estimated $346,000 a year in property taxes from the county through their "General Fund."
The Receipts: According to the PUD’s own financial website, the primary use of this property tax money isn't to fix failing pipes, buy well pumps, or lower your monthly rates.
The Reality: The PUD explicitly states that this property tax is used to fund "Board of Commissioners election costs, salaries, and expenses." You are literally being taxed on your home just to pay the salaries of the politicians who are voting to raise your water rates.
FACT 6:
The Billing Structure Punishes Water Conservation
The PUD frequently tells Thurston County residents to be mindful of their water use, yet the utility's entire financial model is actually designed to punish conservation.
The Reality: Over the last few years, the PUD has aggressively shifted the vast majority of its revenue generation onto mandatory "Base Rates" and fixed "Surcharges." Today, the actual water you consume makes up the smallest portion of your monthly bill.
The Trap: You can aggressively cut your family's water consumption in half—taking shorter showers, installing low-flow toilets, and letting your lawn go brown—and your monthly bill will barely drop. The PUD has built a billing system that guarantees their multi-million dollar administrative revenue stream regardless of your environmental efforts, completely disconnecting your financial cost from your actual water usage.
FACT 7:
5-Year Timeline of Emergency Waivers
January 2021: An emergency waiver was declared and added to the consent calendar.
July 21, 2021: Declared for a pump failure at the Tanglewilde-Thompson Place well.
June 2023: Another emergency waiver for the Tanglewilde-Thompson Place 600 system.
February 15, 2024: Declared for the Pattison 500 system.
February 25, 2024: Declared yet again for the Tanglewilde-Thompson Place 600 system.
November 23, 2024: Declared for an electrical line break at the LCUC Water Systems.
March 2025: Declared for the Reserve at Cooper Point 3 system.
August 21, 2025: Declared for the Pattison 500 system due to a catastrophic valve failure.
December 11, 2025: Declared for a project at 1240 Ruddell Rd. SE in Lacey.
December 19, 2025: Declared for the Crescent Park 355 Water System.
In 2025 and early 2026, the Board bypassed competitive bidding by declaring "Emergency Waivers" at least six times: Lazy Acres (Jan 2025), Reserve at Cooper Point (Mar 2025), Pattison 500 (Aug 2025), Skookumchuck (Sept 2025), Crescent Park (Dec 2025), and even for their own PUD rental office building on Ruddell Road.
FACT 8:
“Run to Failure” Policy
Page 21 of the 2025 Adopted Budget: "It is the District's policy to run most assets to failure in order to get the most value out of every water system component."
The Thurston PUD openly admits they do not do proactive maintenance. They intentionally wait for critical infrastructure to explode or collapse before they replace it.
When you run a water system to failure, you get catastrophic valve breaks—like we have seen with Tanglewild and Pattison. And what happens when a valve breaks? The PUD declares an 'Emergency Waiver,' bypasses competitive bidding, and uses residents’ $16 capital surcharge to pay their own bloated internal labor rates to fix a crisis they intentionally created.
FACT 11:
Death By A 1,000 Fees
The Accessory Dwelling Unit / Non-Residential Letter Fee
If a property owner wants to build a commercial space or add an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) like a mother-in-law suite, they need a "Water Availability Letter" from the PUD just to get their county permits.
2022: The PUD charged $200 to write this administrative letter.
2023 to Present: They hiked the fee to $250.
The Reality: The PUD increased the cost by 25% just to process a standard administrative form for people trying to add housing density on their own property.
The Property Tax Escalation
2023: The PUD collected $327,119 in property taxes.
2024: They increased their tax collection to $336,292 (a 2.8% jump).
2025: Their adopted budget pushes the tax levy income to an estimated $349,661.
The Reality: Every year, as property values fluctuate, the PUD ensures their General Fund tax collection goes up, securing more money for their own administrative bubble.
The Agricultural / Irrigation Hikes
Even agricultural and targeted irrigation rates haven't escaped the creeping hikes. For example, look at the specific Scattercreek Ranch Irrigation fee:
2022: Billed at $1.15 per cubic foot.
2023: Increased to $1.25 per cubic foot.
2025: Increased to $1.32 per cubic foot.
FACT 9:
“30 Million Deficit Warning”
Page 21 of the 2025 Adopted Budget: The preliminary findings indicate the District's future capital needs for the next 20 years are severely underfunded." "Over the next 6 years (2025-2030), there are major components of our water systems requiring replacement at an estimated value of $30.1 million.
The Thurston PUD notes that their current capital surcharges only fund about 45% of these replacement costs.
The $16 Capital Surcharge is just the beginning. The PUD's own accountants warn that the system is severely underfunded by $30.1 million over the next six years. In future years, the PUD is teeing up massive, punishing rate hikes for 2027 and beyond.
FACT 10:
Rate Increases Since 2023
Overall Base Rate
2023: The Board passed a massive 8.90% overall rate revenue increase.
2024: The Board passed a 2.50% overall rate revenue increase.
2025: The Board passed a 2.00% overall rate revenue increase (which brought the standard residential base rate to $47.27).
2026: As we mapped out earlier, the base rate was pushed up again to $48.69.
Capital Surcharge Rate
2023: Increased from $10.00 to $11.00 per month.
2024: Increased from $11.00 to $13.50 per month.
2025: Increased from $13.50 to $15.00 per month.
2026: Increased from $15.00 to $16.00 per month.
The General Facility Charge
(The "New Home Tax")
2022: The fee to connect a new home to the system was $4,500.
2023: Increased to $5,000.
2024: Increased to $6,000.
2025: Increased to $7,000.
The Reality: In just three years, the Board voted to raise the cost of connecting a single new home by $2,500 (a 55% jump). They are actively making it more expensive to build or place a new home in Thurston County.
FACT 12:
The "Right of Way" Cost Overruns: How the PUD’s Poor Planning Costs You
The Receipts: The Tanglewilde Failure
We don't have to guess if the PUD's internal project management is failing; they admitted it in their own public records.
During the March 24, 2026, Board Meeting, the Assistant General Manager publicly admitted to severe "issues experienced during Phase 1 of the mainline replacement project at the Tanglewilde-Thompson Place 600 water system."
Because the PUD failed to properly navigate basic right-of-way disputes with Thurston County, the project was severely delayed, resulting in what the PUD legally recorded as "increased cost incurred by the District."
The Financial Trap: Why You Pay for Their Mistakes
When a standard utility undertakes a multi-million dollar mainline replacement, they use a competitive bidding process.
The Normal Way: A private contractor provides a guaranteed bid. If that contractor fails to secure the proper right-of-way permits and incurs massive delays, the contractor eats the financial loss. The ratepayer is protected.
The PUD Way: Because the PUD continually bypasses competitive bidding and rely on their own internal teams, there is no financial safety net. When the PUD mismanages the permits, they simply pass the "increased costs" directly onto your mandatory monthly Capital Surcharges.
FACT 13:
The Emergency Waiver "Profit Margin" (The $146/Hour)
The Thurston PUD is bleeding ratepayer money due to a deliberate lack of proactive maintenance and a reliance on bypassing the competitive bidding process. The current Board’s official strategy is to "run assets to failure"—and when those assets inevitably break, they write themselves a blank check.
The Receipts: Over the last five years, the current Board has declared an "Emergency Waiver of Competitive Bidding" at least 10 times. This allows them to bypass private contractors and guaranteed bids, and instead use their own internal staff to fix the problem. According to their own 2026 Adopted Equipment and Employee Rates, they are billing their capital funds $146.00 an hour for the General Manager, $135.00 an hour for Directors, and charging time-and-a-half for any after-hours or overtime work.
The Reality: Emergency waivers aren't about fixing your neighborhood's pipes quickly; they are about keeping high-priced administrators on the clock without having to compete with private contractors. When the Board mismanages a project or lets a valve collapse, they simply bill your $16 monthly Capital Surcharge at bloated internal rates to clean up their own mess.
FACT 14:
The 100% Forgiven Loan
vs.
The $1.78 PFA Tax
When "forever chemicals" (PFAS) contaminated local wells, the PUD correctly went after the corporate polluters. But instead of using that money to protect the ratepayers, the current leadership decided to hoard the cash and tax the victims anyway.
The Receipts: In the PUD's own 2026 financial documents, they admit to securing nearly $7 million in 100% principal forgiven loans from the state to install PFAS treatment plants. They also confirm an estimated $927,069 in settlement funds rolling in from 3M, with hundreds of thousands of dollars already sitting in the bank.
The Reality: The installation of the treatment systems is completely paid for by the state, and the polluters are actively paying for the damages. Yet, the current Board still voted to slap a new, permanent $1.78 monthly "Emerging Contaminant Remediation Surcharge" on 9,100 working families. They are using environmental cleanup as an excuse to build a massive reserve fund on the backs of the very people whose water was poisoned
These types of PFA fees will only go up on the rate payer as more polluters evade full responsibility.
FACT 15:
The 77% Housing Tax Spike
(The $8,000 Connection Fee)
Thurston County is currently facing a housing affordability crisis. Instead of working to lower the barriers to entry for new homes, the PUD has actively weaponized its monopoly to tax new development and drive up the cost of living.
The Receipts: If a property owner or builder wants to connect a single new home to a PUD water system, they must pay a mandatory "General Facility Charge" (GFC). In 2022, that fee was $4,500. Under the current Board’s watch, the 2026 adopted budget just hiked that fee to $8,000.
The Reality: That is a 77% cost increase to connect a single-family home to water in just four years. The utility establishment isn't just raising the cost of water; they are actively penalizing new home construction and making Thurston County housing fundamentally less affordable.
FACT 16:
The "Hotel California" Trap (Weaponizing Resolution 11-21)
What happens if you get fed up with the PUD’s $66 mandatory monthly base rates and decide to legally drill your own private well? The current Board has made sure they will keep taking your money anyway.
The Receipts: The PUD passed Resolution 11-21, a deeply predatory policy governing customer disconnections. The resolution explicitly states that even if a customer legally disconnects from the PUD water system, they "remain obligated for all GFC, connection and other charges."
The Reality: You can check out, but you can never leave. If you transition your family to a private well, the PUD will still force you to pay their mandatory monthly administrative surcharges for a utility grid you no longer use. This isn't the behavior of a public service organization; it is the behavior of a predatory monopoly that refuses to let its revenue stream escape.
FACT 17:
The Landlord/Tenant Squeeze (Weaponizing Resolution 09-33)
When a utility struggles to collect unpaid bills, they are supposed to fix their internal operations. Instead, the Thurston PUD decided to just deputize private citizens to do their dirty work and take on their financial risk.
The Receipts: Tired of dealing with delinquent tenant accounts, the Board passed Resolution 09-33. This rule mandates that property owners and landlords are entirely responsible for their tenants' utility bills.
The Reality: The PUD forces property owners to act as their unpaid collection agency. If a tenant skips town without paying for the water they consumed, the PUD simply holds the landlord legally and financially responsible, threatening to shut off the property's water entirely if the owner doesn't cover the loss. The bureaucracy shifts 100% of its financial risk onto local property owners while continuing to raise their rates.
FACT 18:
The "Cross-Connection" Threat (Weaponizing Resolution 23-31)
The current Board doesn't just want to control the water in the street; they have given themselves the authority to dictate the plumbing inside your private property.
The Receipts: In August 2023, the Board passed Resolution 23-31, a "Cross-Connection" policy. This rule gives the PUD the power to demand that residential customers install expensive backflow assemblies on their property.
The Reality: If a homeowner cannot afford these expensive, mandated plumbing retrofits, the PUD granted itself the ultimate unchecked authority: they can shut off your family's water within 72 hours, OR they can force the installation using their own internal crews and secretly tack the construction costs onto your monthly water bill. They are operating like an unregulated Homeowners Association with the power to cut off your basic utilities.
FACT 21:
The "Generator Tax"
The PUD doesn't use its massive $12 million annual budget to ensure basic resilience across the grid. If your neighborhood needs a backup generator, they force your specific street to pay for it indefinitely.
The Receipts: Look at the 2026 Adopted Rates for the Cedar Shores Water System. The Board has attached a permanent $11.01 monthly "Cedar Shores Generator Surcharge" strictly to those residents.
The Reality: "A public utility is supposed to spread the cost of infrastructure across a massive grid to keep costs low. But under the current Board, if your specific neighborhood needs a backup generator so you don't lose water during a winter storm, they will slap a permanent $11 monthly 'Generator Surcharge' directly onto your bill. You are paying $66 in base administrative taxes, but they still nickel-and-dime your neighborhood for the most basic emergency equipment."
FACT 20:
Weaponizing Law Enforcement over Utility Fees
The Board is actively criminalizing its own ratepayers over minor billing and equipment disputes.
The Receipts: The PUD already charges a steep $200 "Meter Tampering Charge". But in the February 24, 2026, meeting minutes, when discussing a customer at the Cedarwood water system who allegedly tampered with a meter, the Board wasn't satisfied with just the fine. The minutes explicitly state the Board pushed to "provide additional information to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office".
The Reality: If you fall behind on your bills or have a dispute over your meter, the current Board won't just hit you with a $200 fine—they will actually try to send the Thurston County Sheriff to your door. They operate with zero empathy, treating struggling working-class ratepayers like criminals rather than customers.
FACT 19:
The "Dana Passage" Warning Sign (The $134 Surcharge)
The Board's aggressive strategy to buy up private water systems is actually a financial death trap for the neighborhoods being acquired.
The Receipts: Throughout early 2026, the Board aggressively pursued the acquisition of the Dana Passage Water System. Look at the 2026 Adopted Rates for Dana Passage Customers. Because the PUD forces new acquisitions to take on heavy DWSRF state loans to get up to PUD code, Dana Passage residents were just hit with a devastating $134.01 monthly "Dana Passage DWSRF Surcharge" —and that is on top of the standard base rates and $1.78 PFAS tax.
The Reality: The current Board's 'Growth by Acquisition' strategy is toxic for local neighborhoods. They recently bought the Dana Passage system, and immediately strapped those homeowners with a $134 monthly surcharge just to pay off the state loan they forced on them. If your neighborhood is currently independent, do not let this PUD near your water system, or they will bankrupt your HOA.
FACT 22:
"Automatic Annual" Rate Hikes
The current Board wants you to believe that rate increases are rare, inflation-based adjustments. Their own newsletters prove that rate hikes are a permanent, built-in feature of their financial model.
The Receipts: Every single February, like clockwork, the PUD publishes the exact same newsletter article warning customers about their upcoming bills. In February 2024, 2025, and 2026, the PUD had to explain why January bills were "prorated"—because the Board had voted to hike the rates and surcharges again.
The Reality:"The current Board doesn't budget to save you money; they budget to guarantee their own revenue. Every single year—in 2024, 2025, and 2026—the Board voted to hike your base rates, consumption charges, and capital surcharges. They treat your water bill like an endless ATM to fund their bureaucracy, passing automatic annual rate hikes while blaming you for using too much water in the summer.
FACT 23:
The "Neighborhood Debt Trap" Surcharges
The PUD advertises a standard "Base Rate" of around $48, but they hide the true cost of their "Growth by Acquisition" empire-building by strapping specific neighborhoods with massive, localized debt surcharges.
The Receipts: When the PUD acquires a new system, they use state loans to upgrade it, and then force that specific neighborhood to pay off the mortgage. According to their 2026 Rate Schedules, residents in Glen Alder pay a $68.10 monthly surcharge, Country Club Estates residents pay $52.89 in combined surcharges, and Dana Passage residents were just hit with a devastating $134.01 monthly surcharge.
The Reality:"The utility establishment is playing real estate developer with your money. When they buy up private water systems to expand their empire, they force the residents of those neighborhoods to take on massive state loans. If you live in Dana Passage or Glen Alder, you are paying between $68 and $134 a month in debt surcharges before you even turn on the tap. It is a neighborhood debt trap."
FACT 24:
"Customer Support" Program
The Board loves to boast about their "Project Help" program for low-income residents, but they canceled standard financial safety nets to do it, and they rely on asking other ratepayers to foot the bill.
The Receipts: In January 2024, the PUD quietly announced the "Discontinuation of Equal Payment Plan Program" —a standard utility feature that helps fixed-income seniors avoid massive summer bill spikes. To replace it, they push "Project Help," which is funded primarily by asking other customers to donate their own money. Where did the money go from the discontinued Equal Payment Plan Program? In May 2025, the Board voted to expand their payroll with two new administrative positions. In late 2025, they amended their budget to spend $40,000 on custom carports for their own vehicles. And on November 4, 2025, they passed Resolution 25-39 to hire a dedicated political lobbyist.
The Reality:The current Board stripped away the 'Equal Payment Plan'—the exact program that protected seniors on fixed incomes from unpredictable summer bills. Their replacement? A 'Project Help' fund that relies heavily on asking you to donate your own money to help your neighbors.