The city inherited responsibility for the systems under a
development agreement.
By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com
PORT ORCHARD
The Port Orchard City Council is contemplating what to do about 605
homes in McCormick Woods whose septic systems the city
services.
The cost of the the service, formerly covered by a 50 percent
surcharge on McCormick residents’ sewer bills, fell onto the city’s
plate when McCormick Woods was annexed in July and the surcharge
went away.
McCormick Woods was not alone in paying the sewer surcharge, and
the extra 50 percent was not directly tied to the septic servicing.
All South Kitsap residents who live outside Port Orchard but
receive sewer and water service from the city pay a 50 percent
surcharge on those utilities.
The city council in 2010 will likely add a new surcharge applying
only to those 605 homes to cover the cost of inspecting and pumping
the septic systems.
The homes in question have a type of sewer system — called STEP for
“septic tank effluent pumping system”— that includes an onsite
septic with a connection to the city’s sewer line. Solids are
processed in the septic tank; liquid waste is pumped to the sewer
line and delivered to the treatment plant operated jointly by Port
Orchard and Westsound Utility District.
Before the sewer, effluent from the STEP systems was pumped to a
community drain field.
An additional 30 homes yet to be built are also vested to have STEP
systems.
The remainder of homes in the McCormick Woods annexation area have
grinder pumps that deliver liquid and solid waste to the sewer
line.
Like any septic system, the STEP systems need periodic maintenance
and repair. The city inspects each system every three years. While
most people with septics are responsible for servicing their own
systems, the city inherited responsibility for the McCormick
systems under a development agreement that existed when the sewer
line went in.
Before the annexation, revenue from the sewer surcharge paid by all
McCormick residents more than covered the cost of servicing the
STEP systems. The current annual cost is about $72,000 per
year.
Public works director Mark Dorsey gave a summary of the STEP system
and its financial implications for the city at a work study meeting
Tuesday. According to John Clauson of the city’s public utilities
committee, the council plans to address the STEP service cost in
its 2010 budget.
Before the end of the year, city utility customers — including
those in McCormick Woods —will see an increase in their bimonthly
water and sewer rates to make up for the loss of McCormick Woods’
utility surcharge revenue. The increase — $3.50 for water and $7.50
for sewer — will replace an estimated $280,000 to $300,000 per year
in revenue lost through the annexation.
While the McCormick Woods surcharge was in effect, the revenue
generated more than made up for the septic service cost, in effect
subsidizing service for other city sewer customers to the tune of
about $128,000 per year, Dorsey said. That helped keep rates down.
Now everyone, including those in McCormick Woods, have to share in
making up that lost revenue, but only those who have the STEP
systems will pay the additional charge for that service beginning
in 2010.
Also in 2010, the city must address revenue needed for improvements
to the sewer system. Considering the poor economy, the council
deferred a rate increase in 2009 that would have funded those
capital improvements.
Tag Archives: sewers
Kitsap Commissioners to Consider Sewers & “the Laughter of Children”
Two public hearings of note on Monday’s agenda for the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.
1. The board will hear an appeal by the Farmhouse Montessori School in South Kitsap of the county hearing examiner’s denial for a special permit that would allow the school/day care to operate in a rural neighborhood.
2. The Board of Commissioners also will take up the issue of whether to form a Local Improvement District to extend a sewer line along Colchester Drive in Manchester.
Farmhouse Montessori
Kitsap County planners recommended approval of the school’s
permit request, but when the project reached the Hearing Examiner
Ted Hunter, several nearby residents said they weren’t too keen on
the proposal, especially considering the extra traffic, noise and
potential damage to the environment.
Hunter denied the permit, saying the use would be detrimental to
the surrounding property owners.
“Educating children is an admirable profession and laudable goal,” Hunter wrote in his findings. “Montessori schools offer a unique perspective on the educational process and can provide a valuable service to the community. (But) noise generated by laughter and screaming of young children during outdoor playtime and by up to 84 vehicle trips to and from the property would be materially detrimental to single-family residential properties in the immediate vicinity.”
Manchester Sewer LID 9
The Board of commissioners deferred a decision on the matter, after testy testimony from area residents, who questioned the accuracy of the costs and the process by which LID boundaries were drawn.
Ron Rada, chairman of the Manchester Community Council’s sewer committee, is spearheading the LID process. After the previous meeting in June, he submitted to the board a detailed response to questions raised during the hearing.
Among other questions, Rada addresses a concern about LID boundaries raised by Kitsap County Assessor Jim Avery, a Manchester resident. Avery asked why some properties between the previously formed LID 8 and the proposed LID 9 were not required to be part of either district. Avery said it was unfair to other residents that these folks weren’t obliged to pay their share of the cost.
Rada, in his letter, explained that some property owners joined LID 8 as latecomers, a move approved by the board. The latecomers and those who didn’t want to hook up to the sewer form a patchwork of properties between LID 8 and 9, some with sewer service, some without.
The committee couldn’t legally require the unsewered properties to be part of LID 9, Rada explained, because the sewer line had already been extended to accommodate the latecomers in LID 8. The law permits LID boundaries to include only properties without current access to sewer. When and if the septic on the properties in LID no-man’s-land fail, they will be required to either fix them or hook up to the sewer, Rada said.
Rada also sent me an article by John Carpita, a public works consultant, explaining how local utility districts are formed . The title of the article, “Are We Having Fun Yet?” hints at the complexity of the process, but Carpita spells it out in his introduction, saying, “LIDs are more fun than root canals without novocaine, a three-month visit from your in-laws, balancing city budgets… (with) a reputation as difficult to administer, time consuming and a public relations disaster waiting to happen (my emphasis added).”
The article addresses the issue of proportionality of assessments. “Statutes specify that the assessment per parcel must not exceed the special benefit, which is defined as the fair market value of the property before and after the local improvement project,” Carpita writes.
Resident Tom Warren questioned whether residents were proportionately represented. The petition approval was determined by area of property, giving those with larger properties more weight in the vote, yet the amount assessed per property is the same, he observed. Carpita’s article confirms that the LID petition “needs to be signed by owners of 51 percent of area within the LID.” (The LID 9 petition just barely met this threshold.) Clearly, Rada & company followed the statutes. However, the question the commissioners need to answer (and one that perhaps Avery himself could address) is whether having access to the sewer line conveys equal value to each property regardless of its size.
I’m going on vacation next week, so will pass this off into other capable hands. But I’ll be watching to see how the commissioners rule and invite your comments of enlightenment before or after the meeting. Cheers.
PO Council Ponders its Next Move on SKIA Sewers
Clarification 9/8/08: In a comment below, Bob Meadows called into question the following statement on this entry:
“With financing, the expansion cost $21.5 million, of which $4.5 million represents expanded capacity set to be dedicated to SKIA.”
Regarding the total cost of expansion, I checked with City of Port Orchard Treasurer Kris Tompkins, who replied:
“I think there needs to be clarification. The expansion cost of the treatment plant was $21.5 million including the debt (financing) of $16.8 million. The City & District (Karcher Creek Sewer District, now Westsound Utility District) together contributed $4.7 million (50/50%). These numbers do not include the interest (of 1/2 a percent), which over the life of the debt will be an additional $775,000+. One loan will be paid off in 2022 & the second in 2024.”
Regarding the cost of the expanded capacity dedicated to SKIA, Bob also called into question the $4.5 million (in the statement above), saying he could find no such reference on the city’s annual financial report. The figure I was using came from an e-mail to me from Lary Coppola on why the city wants to pursue its perceived right to provide sewer to SKIA. City Councilman John Clauson cited an amount of $3.5 in a recent interview.
Kris Tompkins, who replied:
“To my knowledge there has not
been any calculation of a monetary value that represents the
expanded capacity to be dedicated to SKIA. So I don’t believe
the statement “…of which $4.5 represents expanded
capacity set to be dedicated to SKIA” is correct. Part of the
expanded capacity was in order to service SKIA but I never even
have heard that a certain percentage of capacity was attributed to
SKIA.”
Here’s the original post:
Members of the Port Orchard City Council are considering what to do next on the issue of Port Orchard’s desire to sewer the South Kitsap Industrial Area, since Wednesday, when the Bremerton City Council voted 7-0 to accept SKIA property owners’ petition to annex SKIA south. The council already voted to accept annexation of SKIA north, for a total of 3,400 acres to be annexed.
The council has yet to meet as a whole, yet in previous meetings, said Councilman John Clauson, they have been united in their desire to see Bremerton uphold a 2003 memorandum of agreement between Port Orchard and the Port of Bremerton, primary property owner of SKIA. The agreement designates Port Orchard as the entity that will provide sewer to the area, slated for development as an industrial park.
But Bremerton officials have said they are under no obligation to honor an agreement to which they are not party.
Mayor Cary Bozeman on Wednesday said the city would look for the deal that best served the residents of Bremerton, be it through Port Orchard or another provider.
“Obviously I’m disappointed in the sense that the City of Bremerton and the City of Port Orchard have had a great relationship forever, and I hate to have it get tarnished in this way,” Clauson said. “I do have a great respect for Mayor Bozeman and the city council. I’d like to talk to them directly.”
As to how far Port Orchard will go to press the matter, Clauson said, “We’ve been talking about the possibility of a lawsuit over this whole issue.”
Although he hoped it doesn’t become a matter for the courts to decide, Clauson said, the council and the Mayor Lary Coppola will do what they need to to defend the city’s investment in an expansion of its wastewater treatment plant, made in part on the assumption that Port Orchard would serve SKIA. The plant is operated jointly by the city and Westsound Utility District (formerly Karcher Creek Sewer District). With financing, the expansion cost $21.5 million, of which $4.5 million represents expanded capacity set to be dedicated to SKIA. The city anticipated money from new hook-ups in SKIA would contribute significantly to the debt, Clauson said, but without SKIA, the burden will fall back on city residents.
“It’s just not fair to the rate-payers if we don’t have the expansion growth that we anticipated,” Clauson said. “So, yeah, I expect it could ultimately make it to court. I’d rather not have to go that direction, but if we have to we have to.”
Rob Puutaansuu, chairman of the city’s utility committee, said talk of a lawsuit was “premature.” Puutaansuu said the council needs answers to certain questions from its own legal council and staff now that Bremerton has made the next move. For one thing, “At what point to we have to force the issue,” said Puutaansuu. “Is it now or down the road when services are provided?”
In anticipation of the need for expanded sewer service to SKIA, Port Orchard, were it the provider, would have to expand its collection line from the pump station on Feigley Road near McCormick Woods that was built with SKIA in mind, said Puutaansuu, who also mentioned being “disappointed” with Bremerton’s stance.
James Weaver, Port Orchard’s development director, said the county’s Boundary Review Board will have to address the memorandum as it rules on the proposed annexation. The board’s review could take 45-120 days. At Wednesday’s meeting, Weaver would not rule out a lawsuit, but said the city was “exhausting every avenue.”
“Litigation is an ugly word,” Weaver said.
