Corvallis residents will see an increase on their city service bills starting next month.
An average customer will pay an extra $19.66 monthly, according to city estimates.
Corvallis Public Information Officer Patrick Rollens said the higher fees will support water and sewage infrastructure, public safety services, street repair, and more. He said this will help prepare Corvallis for its future growth.
Rollens said the city plans to do costly repairs and upgrades to its public works infrastructure in the coming decades. He said the department currently has roughly $2 billion in assets, including its piping, water treatment facilities, and roads.
“These are really publicly owned assets," said Rollens. "We owe it to those generations of folks who put them in place to put a sustainable funding framework in place that will carry these systems forward another 50 or 100 years."
Meanwhile, Rollens said Corvallis is also more than tripling its Urban Forestry Fee, in preparation for the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer in the area.
The beetle was first detected in Oregon in 2022, and can devastate ash trees it comes in contact with.
Rollens said it's only a matter of time before the invasive pest reaches Corvallis, which he said likely has thousands of ash trees in its urban forest inventory.
"The reality is, we'll probably be able to treat some number of those trees," said Rollens. "But some percentage we haven't yet ascertained will have to be removed."
The city is collecting more money to help low-income residents pay for their utilities. Rollens said eligible residents can receive a credit for $68.74 each month.
A full breakdown of the fee increases is listed below:
