Updated H1N1 statistics dominated the agenda at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.

Dr. Timothy Moody, Whitman County public health officer, presented the department’s most recently obtained statistics related to the seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus. He also spoke about how the seasonal flu is not yet circulating.

“What we know at this point is that the majority of influenza – 97 to 98 percent of all influenza that circulates around the world and not just in the United States – is now the H1N1 influenza strain,” Moody said.

He said a major difference between seasonal flu and H1N1 is the attack rate.

With the seasonal flu, 36,000 deaths per year are expected because of its 5 to 20 percent attack rate. Conversely, with H1N1’s attack rate of 30 to 50 percent, Moody said Whitman County Public Health estimates 30,000 to 90,000 nationwide deaths this year pertaining to H1N1, with 600 to 1,800 deaths coming from Washington state.

“The real strange thing about this is that 90 percent of the (H1N1) deaths are occurring in people under the age of 65,” he said. “Whereas with the seasonal flu, our usual experience is that 90 percent of the deaths occur in people over 65. That’s a major, major difference.” Moody also said H1N1-related numbers have tailed off dramatically at WSU as of late. He said Health and Wellness Services saw up to 100 students a day for influenza-like illnesses initially. The numbers have diminished to about 20 a day, he said.

Also discussed at the meeting was the passing of a water and sewer utility fee increase, as well as a potential 1 percent property tax increase.

Public Works Director Mark Workman urged the council to pass a 7 percent increase on water and sewer utility fees, effective Nov. 1.

“I’m gonna vote for this because I feel that I need to,” Councilwoman Ann Heath said. “It’s not fun to raise utility rates. This charge is the most reasonable charge that we could come to.” Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson sided with Heath on how difficult it would be to impose an increase on Pullman residents. He said keeping the city’s infrastructure strong is one of the largest issues Pullman must deal with.

With one of the seven council members absent, the members proceeded with a vote of 6-0 to pass both the water and the sewer utility rate increases.

In addition, Pullman City Supervisor John Sherman proposed the implementation of a 1 percent property tax in the near future to combat the city’s rapidly declining growth in construction activity. The increase would apply to existing property and new construction, he said.

“In our general fund, property tax is our largest source of revenue,” he said. “It represents about 29 percent of our general fund revenue for this current 2009 year.” The council created a resolution to implement the 1 percent property tax increase, and the matter will remain on the council’s agenda for further analysis.