PORT TOWNSEND — A $5 surprise is in the mail to those who missed or forgot that a Clean Water District charge to some Jefferson County individual property owners was approved in August.

“I am sure this is going to be a surprise to some people because they may not have been aware of when the county commissioners approved it,” said county Treasurer Judi Morris, whose office is preparing to send out about 18,000 tax bills with the $5 charge.

Some 30,000 parcels are taxed countywide.

Morris said she already has fielded a number of phone inquiries from property owners who checked their tax billings online.

The bills should be mailed out by Feb. 10.

After an $18 per parcel charge was shot down by residents, the county commissioners in August approved the $5 per percent charge to all property owners outside of Port Townsend and Port Ludlow, which are served by sewer systems.

The fee will generate about $88,000 on top of $33,000 from the county general fund to match state grants earmarked for improving water quality in the county’s shellfish-growing areas.

Some exempted

Exemptions from the charge, besides Port Townsend and Port Ludlow, are West Jefferson County property owners, defined timberlands without homes on them, and low-income senior-exempted properties and disabled owners, Morris said.

The money raised through the charges will go toward studying sources of pollution in shellfish tidelands, including fecal coliform and stormwater runoff contaminants, and septic systems.

The county has been managing clean water projects in Discovery Bay, Mats Mats Bay, Chimacum Creek and Hood Canal. Money will go toward funding those projects.

The dollars generated would be used to help fence cattle off of streams, educate homeowners about proper use of septic systems, monitor water quality and identify pollution from septic systems and correct it.

The Clean Water District was established in 2007 without a fee, following outcry against the $18 annual per-parcel fee then proposed.

The county formed the district to keep its shellfish waters clean and avoid state Department of Health water quality downgrades that could lead to closure of commercial shellfish beds that produce an estimated $20 million in Jefferson County business a year.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.