Here is a press release from Clean Water Services to inform all ratepayers that the Board of County Commissioners, which serves as the Clean Water Services Board, and the budget committee are implementing a 4% increase for all ratepayers. CWS is under an ethical investigation and an audit, but that is not stopping CWS staff, including the still-active yet disgraced CEO, Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, from demanding more money. Yes, you can not make this stuff up. Several citizens testified against this raise, including me. Still, after some ceremonial Q&A and many platitudes towards the CWS staff by Board Members Kathryn Harirngton and Pam Treece, the nearly $ 1 billion annual budget was approved. So, get ready – here comes the rate increases!
Read the Press Release, and then have a look at a special project that is not central to the handling of storm water and sewage which is causing the majority of these cost increases: Make sure you scroll down to learn about RIPL where most of the 2025-2026 budget is going and the reason why you are all paying so much more this next year.
- The scope and timing of the proposed 4% rate adjustment.
- Development of a CWS low-income assistance program to better support customers experiencing financial hardship.
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OK. Press Releases are always so nice-sounding! And not a mention of the Audit, the ethics complaints, or any of that. That’s where journalism comes in. The Herald studied the 800-plus pages of the budget document and asked, “Why?” What is driving the budget up, and why are ratepayers being asked to pay more again? The answers we found after dozens of hours of research. And that answer is a project called RIPL.
What is RIPL?
According to a short handout buried in a CWS document, we found this explanation:
RIPL PROJECT SUMMARY
The Resource+Innovation+Partners+Labs (Ripl) project will provide a new regulatory compliance
laboratory, research laboratory, flexible laboratory space, new analysis equipment (inductively
coupled plasma mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, workspaces, and
meeting spaces.
• The Project budget: $65 million (Level 2 estimate at construction bid phase)
• Current progress: In construction
• Completion and move-in: January 2027
That sort of equipment is very cutting edge, so we made some calls. The equipment mentioned, fully set up to provide CWS with a state-of-the-art water lab that can detect anything and everything in water, would cost approximately $1 million. Fair enough. That seems reasonable.
To get a sense of the scale of this lab, which is truly impressive, you’ll want to visit the architectural website, where the building’s designs are available online. And OMG, is this place going to be a Palace!
The entire dataset of drawings is here:
https://www.seallp.com/work/civic/clean-water-services-ripl
Almost everyone who has contacted the Herald to speak to us anonymously, claiming to be a current or former staff member at CWS, has one main thing in common. They say that the real story in this Clean Water Services mess is RIPL and the out-of-control budget. There are also strong suspicions that the CWS CEO and other executives are awarding consulting contracts to friends and colleagues, and that un-audited purchases and irregular requisitioning processes are taking place. After all, we are talking about a massive lab, unlike anything almost anyone has ever seen. Here is one message we received.
“RIPL is being used to move millions of dollars of our budget to build a lab that we do not need. We have labs- this building is being directed and created by the CEO all for bragging rights. We do need it to serve the people of Washington County, plain and simple. There are millions of dollars being diverted with no oversight. This is where the real financial issues within CWS are. And once it is built she (Diane) was planning to hire out lab services to other cities in a really fuzzy and unclear way. An audit must be done by someone from the outside. This is the real story.” Anonymous imformant claiming to be inside CWS told the Herald in April or May.
Here are three other statements we have in our emails from other Whistleblowers.
Whistle Blower 1
“CWS exists to protect the environment, but most of the budget and priority is given to research projects, international partnerships, and other initiatives that serve as vanity projects for the executive team.” Current staff member sending information in anonymity to the Herald.
What value will RIPL to rate payers. My guess is the answer will be that it will house the water quality lab, however; the lab does not need an 86.000 square foot building. Most of the renovated building will be for molecular research of dubious value to rate payers and for meeting space for impressing elected officials to keep maintaining the status quo of no oversight. Internally, the board gets treated like a body that we need to glad hand so they don’t look to deep at where money is going. The audit being run through Lobdell’s office is a joke. It needs to be run through the county auditor. ”
Whistle Blower 2
“Watch the Big purchases. CWS purchased a building in Forest Grove a number of years ago with the goal of building “the biggest lab west of the Mississippi”. This building is internally called RIPL, Research Innovation Programs and Labels.” Track the Money!
Whistle Blower 3
” the Forest Grove building (RIPL) is a massive renovation project to build a “genome sequencing” laboratory or something of a highly complex nature. There will be millions of dollars worth of extremely high tech lab equipment purchased for that building. Again, my staff and I have questioned how exactly that benefits ratepayers.”
LOOK AT ALL THIS MONEY
Clean Water Services FY26 Budget Analysis
The FY2026 Clean Water Services (CWS) budget totals $317.9 million. A significant component of this year’s budget is the RIPL (Resource+Innovation+Partners+Labs) project, allocated $31.0 million in FY26. This project alone accounts for roughly 9.7% of the total annual budget.
RIPL Project Financial Impact
Full project cost: ~$66 million
FY26 allocation: $31.0 million
FY25–FY26 Budget Increase Breakdown
Total increase: $52.6 million
RIPL portion: $31.0 million (59%)
Other items: $21.6 million (41%)
Budget Allocation Overview
| Category | Amount ($M) | Percent of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel | 89.56 | 28.2% |
| RIPL Project | 31.00 | 9.7% |
| Consultants | 5.12 | 1.6% |
| Other Expenditures | 192.22 | 60.5% |
| Total | 317.9 | 100% |
Ratepayer Impact Summary
- CWS plans to issue $75M in bonds to fund projects like RIPL.
- A 4% rate increase is proposed in FY26.
- Without the increase, a projected $72M shortfall could occur.
- Typical capital funding mix: 51% bonds, 38% SDCs, 11% rates.
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Here are the visual breakdowns of the FY26 Clean Water Services budget and the impact of the RIPL project:
Bar Chart – RIPL Share of FY26 Budget:
Shows the $31.0M RIPL allocation compared to the full $317.9M budget. RIPL represents about 9.7% of total spending.Bar Chart – FY25–FY26 Budget Increase Breakdown:
Highlights that $31.0M of the $52.6M increase from FY25 to FY26 is due to RIPL — nearly 59% of the budget growth.Pie Chart – FY26 Budget Allocation:
Breaks the budget into major categories:Personnel (28.2%)
RIPL Project (9.7%)
Consultants (1.6%)
All Other Expenditures (60.5%)
These visuals highlight the significant impact of the RIPL project on both total and year-over-year spending, as well as the potential ratepayer impacts discussed earlier.
We had the date broker break out into cost categories-
WOW – $7.5 Million going to Design, engineering, and Consultants – that is the area our whistleblowers have indicated that improper things are happening, among other sectors, too.
Based on the whistleblower’s comments, the Herald’s review of the CWS 25-26 budget, and the continuing scandal, as well as the potential for fraud and financial misdealing that has already cast a shadow over CWS Executives, I spoke directly to the Budget Committee on this matter. They did not even bat an eye. They know what’s happening; they know the massive budget is not well-planned nor audited, but they still voted for it. And now you are all going to pay 4% more – and once again, the rate payers are being buried while executives circle the wagons and still refuse to release public information. The more they fight to hide or suppress the information, the more determined we have become. Click the button to hear my pleas – and know that they are not slowing down, and they will not scrutinize these numbers closely. The vote is done and they do not want to discuss or look into RIPL. This is unfair to the ratepayers of Washington County.
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