Louise Miller of council District 3, chair of the Regional Water Quality Committee, says the plan will promote fairness among ratepayers by ensuring that "growth pays for growth," an idea she says is not always popular with local developers, some of which voiced their opposition "in this latest go-round."

Larry Phillips, vice chair, tells GlobeSt the committee attempted to work with the development community to avoid serious impacts on King County's real estate industry. The challenge, he says, was balancing the need for new infrastructure that will allow for continued growth and development--and the voices of long-time residents who were adverse to paying $1.2 billion for a third treatment plant for the benefit of newcomers.

The capacity charge, which Miller says around the country is often referred to as a "hook-up charge," is limited by law to pass on costs associated only with new capital infrastructure benefiting new customers. Costs such as maintenance must be shared equally by the entire customer base. With the calculations to determine exactly what is capital infrastructure, being exceptionally complex, Miller says it is better to err on the conservative side than overcharge a new customer and open the county to lawsuits down the road. Thus the plan of passing on 95% of estimated costs.