Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
6f
ACTION ITEM
Date of Meeting
March 26, 2019
DATE: March 15, 2019
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Jeffrey Brown, Director, Facilities and Capital Program
Mike Tasker, Sr. Manager, Aviation Facilities and Infrastructure
SUBJECT: Midway Sewer District General Facility Charges at Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport
Amount of this request:
$461,760
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to pay Midway Sewer District
General Facilities Charges at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the amount of $461,760.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This request rectifies unpaid sewer charges owed to the district that serves the Seattle-Tacoma
International Airport. General Facility Charges are typically assessed by sewer districts to
provide infrastructure to receive and treat sewage from customers. These charges are allocated
based on a cost-per-fixture model. New construction usually adds fixtures, which generate
increased use of the sewer district’s infrastructure. When construction activities remove
fixtures, the removal is accounted for as a credit against allocated charges.
The airport went for an extended period, between roughly 1993 and 2003, during which there
was very little or no construction that would have affected fixture counts to trigger an
allocation of new General Facility Charges. Unfortunately, when the terminal expansion ramped
up again in 2003/2004 and continuing through mid-2017, fixture additions were not accounted
for and General Facility Charges were due to the sewer district.
After the discovery of the outstanding General Facility Charges in 2017, a fixture audit was
initiated to determine the amounts owed for each fixture (including water fountains, sinks,
floor drains, grease interceptors, etc.) installed and removed at the Airport over the last
decade. The sewer district has been patient and cooperative throughout the process, and staff
proposed ways to prevent a similar oversight from happening in the future.
Now that the amount owed to Midway is established, we are seeking Commission authorization
to execute the payment, which does not include interest charges. The funds to pay Midway
come from the Airport Development Fund and were accrued as an expense in the accounting
for 2018.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. __6f__ Page 2 of 2
Meeting Date: March 26, 2019
Template revised September 22, 2016; format updates October 19, 2016.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
The Midway Sewer District is responsible for sanitary sewer infrastructure serving the airport.
General Facility Charges are paid to the sewer district by its customers, including the airport, in
a roughly 10 square-mile area west of Interstate 5.
Projects that incurred unpaid General Facility Charges at the airport include Concourse
A/Airport Office Building, Central Terminal Expansion, and the C-1 Building addition.
The oversight was discovered during a fixture audit by Aviation Facilities and Infrastructure
triggered by the sewer district’s notifying the port regarding increased sewage flows. Payment
of these charges is typically handled as part of the construction permitting process. Charges
incurred since discovery of the error have been paid in connection with the capital project
review process by each airport and tenant project that have added fixtures since mid-2017.
Moving forward, each capital project will account for the fixtures it adds and removes and
charges will be included in project budgets.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This authorization will allow the Executive Director to pay the sum of charges for the Airport
plumbing fixture additions since 2003. The fee relating to prior periods was accrued in 2018
and through agreement with the sewer district does not incur penalties or interest payments.
ATTACHMENTS AND PREVIOUS ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
A General Facilities Charge invoice from the Midway Sewer District is attached; there are no
previous Commission actions or briefings on this subject.
