BY REYNOR PADILLA, EAST COUNTY NEWS EDITOR, Aberdeen Daily World , 7/29/98
The Elma City Council voted 3-2 Monday, July 20, to boost water and sewer rates by 20 percent in November, and another 20 percent in August 1999.
Citizens in Elma were expecting the rate hikes, which will help the city qualify for grants and loans on its state-mandated $4.5 million sewer system upgrade. For months the council has held public hearings and told citizens to expect a 40 percent boost all at once.
It will cost the average person $5.50 a month.
Freshmen councilmen Earl Hari, Eric Meister and Mark Doyle voted "aye" for the 20 percent boost while veteran councilwoman Norma Johanson and Debbie Thurman voted "nay."
The council will officially confirm the vote with a resolution on Aug. 3, said clerk-treasurer Ingrid Daniels. But the boost is more or less a done deal.
"The only reason I voted for the 20 percent increase was because of the outpouring of senior citizens," Doyle said of the hike. Rates will continue to rise in following years, said Daniels. Mike Wolfe, city engineer, is currently calculating further boosts.
"Nobody in this town has a lot of money," said Johanson, who supported the 40 percent proposal "But it's something we have to do."
The hike is necessary for the city to be considered "in need" of state money, said Johanson. The higher the sewer rates are, the more likely the state will award grants and loans. Originally, Wolfe suggested a 50 percent increase.
"I'm worried that in the long run it's going to cost the citizens more," Johanson said. She was concerned that the city would miss out on 1999 grants. While that's a possibility Wolfe doesn't see it as a major problem.
"We don't think it's going to have a detrimental affect on the program," said Wolfe. The engineers look at hard numbers, he said, "but the council is looking at the impact on citizens."
Wolfe's firm, Gibbs and Olson of Olympia, "made sure (the council) made a very informed decision," said the engineer.
The Department of Ecology ordered the city to make the upgrades because the old sewage system doesn't meet modern standards, said Wolfe. Without the upgrades, the city faces huge fines.
"The bottom line is they're gonna have to upgrade the treatment plant or the state is gonna start whacking the hell out of them," said citizen Don Warren in May. Warren regularly attends council meetings and keeps informed on issues.
Elma hasn't raised its rates in more than 15 years. It wouldn't be stuck with the problem if it had steadily raised rates and saved money, said Mayor Dave Osgood. Elma's current sewer system can barely handle the town's 2,500 people because rainwater seeps into cracked pipes. If gone unchecked, it would overload the system, forcing untreated sewage into the Chehalis River : It's easier and cheaper to upgrade the current plant than to fix all the pipes, Wolfe said. @ The town's two-lagoon treatment plant, built in the late 1970s, can't handle much more water, said Wolfe. The plant treats sewage like a natural wetland, sifting it through microorganisms and breaking it down with sunlight. In the upgrade, one of the old sewage lagoons would receive a new "biolac" unit, which would inject air into certain parts of the degrading sewage, said Wolfe. The extra air would speed up the process. One upgraded sewage lagoon would process more material faster than the two old ones.