City to take over payments for north Kirkland neighborhood street lights

Prior to the city of Kirkland annexing the Finn Hill, North Juanita, and Kingsgate areas in June 2011, residents in those areas paid for street lighting through their respective lighting districts.

Prior to the city of Kirkland annexing the Finn Hill, North Juanita, and Kingsgate areas in June 2011, residents in those areas paid for street lighting through their respective lighting districts. Street light charges were billed by their local utility provider – the Northshore Utility District (NUD) or the Woodinville Water District (WWD). At the time of annexation, the Kirkland City Council committed to a phasing plan where the city would assume the costs associated with street lighting. It has been the city’s practice to pay the power costs for all street lights in the city, regardless of whether they were located on arterials and collectors or on neighborhood (local) streets. As a condition of a development permit for a short plat or any significant redevelopment, the city does require street lights on arterials, collectors and local streets. Kirkland annexation area residents who paid for street lights through NUD or WWD will no longer be charged on their utility bills effective with service provided after July 1.

More than 2,000 street lights were identified in the annexed areas are affected by the switch over. NUD customers will notice the change on their July and August utility bills. Because some of the city customers are in a NUD billing cycle that runs from June 1 through July 31, their street light charges will be prorated to reflect the July 1, switchover. WWD will also be incorporating changes in their upcoming cycles. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) will now directly bill the city of Kirkland for these costs.

The additional estimated power costs for street lighting of $142,000 for half of 2015 and $285,000 for 2016 was included in Kirkland’s 2015-2016 Biennial Budget approved by the City Council in December 2014.

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Customers with questions regarding their street lighting charges on their utility statements should contact their respective service provider:

* Northshore Utility District, 425-398-4400, www.nud.net.

* Woodinville Water District, 425-487-4100, www.woodinvillewater.com

Street lighting maintenance requests should be directed to the city of Kirkland Public Works Department at 425-587-3900 or pwservice@kirklandwa.gov.