Elma council sets sewer rate increases - June 8, 1999
By Terry Loney - Daily World Writer The Aberdeen Daily World
Elma - The Elma City Council last night set the rates residents will be paying for sewer service.
The city needed to increase the rates to repay a $3.32 million loan it will take out to help pay for the $5.3 million sewer treatment plant it will begin building in 2001. The remainder of the cost will be paid with a $1.2 million grant.
"We are at the time now where (the rates) need to become effective in order to put money into the construction fund," said Mike Wolfe, engineer for Gibbs & Olson in Olympia, the consulting firm the city contracts with.
In 1998, residents felt a 40 percent increase in their bimonthly bills, to $42.91, to begin raising money for the construction of the plant. They will be paying an additional 20 percent now.
They will also pay increases of 10 percent in 2000, 7 percent in 2001 and 5 percent in 2002. The rates approved also include yearly 5 percent increases in sewer bills beyond 2002 to cover inflation.
Residents can expect to see their bills increase to $51.49 in September of 1999, to $56.64 Jan. 1, 2000, and then to $60.61 Jan. 1, 2001.
Users of the city's sewage treatment plant who live outside of the city will be paying $77.23 in September of 1999.
Wolfe noted they pay a rate 11Ú2 times higher than residents of the city.
Councilman Debbie Thurman noted the increase approved is a lot more palatable than the original estimate more than a year ago when it was assumed the rates would have to be increased 40 percent again.
Increases in revenues collected from sewer fees and sewer connections are cited as the reason why the rate increase was cut in half.
Wolfe said during a previous council meeting that the 20 percent increase this year would provide Elma with the best financial footing for construction of the plant.
The increase would put enough into the fund for the sewer plant and leave a balance of $39,000 in 2005. The city has to have $1 million in the construction fund to make payments and expenses for the plant due in 2003.
In other action last night
The council voted to extend water service to two lots outside the city limits.
For more than five years, E. Lavonne Stevens has been attempting to get the city to provide her with water service to the two lots she owns located at 536 and 546 N. 13th St. She had applied for and received permission to connect the lots to the city's water lines under the condition she paid to connect the lots to the city's sanitary sewer service.
Wolfe said she had been sent a letter explaining this to her in 1995.
City Attorney Dan Glenn said Stevens knew this and tried to circumvent the requirement by installing septic systems on the lots.
Stevens did get permission from the county to install the septic systems which cost about $11,000 each. In an interview a month ago Stevens said she did not have the estimated $60,000 needed to connect to the sewer system and the county informed her it did not want 13th Street, a county road, torn up for the installation of the sewer line.
So she opted to have the septic systems installed since they would serve the same purpose.
The county approved the septic systems under the assumption the city exempted her from having to have sewer hookups, Glenn said. He added the letter Stevens was sent in 1995 gave the county the wrong impression. The letter stated the city would not provide her with sewer service, meaning she had to pay for the extension herself.
Stevens said last night that she hadn't understood that.
Wolfe asked why she just did not comply with the letter.
"I did not do anything illegal," Stevens replied. "You sound like a broken record."
Councilman Eric Meister asked how long the septic systems would last.
Wolfe noted they were built to last between 15 and 20 years.
'We will get the connections then," Meister said, then motioned the council approve her request. The council voted 3-2, with Thurman and Norma Johanson against the motion.
Terry Loney, a Daily World writer, can be reached at 532-4000 ext. 137, or by e-mail at tloney@thedailyworld.com
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