Commissioners consider second sewer rate hike

‘I don’t see hope and that is always the big thing to taxpayers.’ Carolyn Hall

Though few citizens participated in the City of Polson Commission’s June 6 public hearing on a proposed sewer rate hike, those who did sent a strong message of discontent.

About half a dozen residents raised concerns about their ability to pay skyrocketing water bills on fixed incomes.

Even though the city is raising rates to build a new sewer treatment program, once the construction is complete, ratepayers’ bills will not decrease, Polson Mayor Heather Knutson said.

Polson resident Carolyn Hall captured the sentiment of her neighbors and fellow residents at the hearing.

“I don’t see hope and that is always the big thing to taxpayers,” Hall said. “Once we buy it, why do we have to continue at the same rate? There’s no hope. I just don’t see a break, ever. And that’s hard. If there’s never ever a break down the road I can totally see people on a fixed income would say, ‘What happens now?’”

Hall was speaking about the last two of three rate hikes planned for the next 18 months.

The first hike increased sewer rates by about $40 per household to pay for the first phase of the mandatory sewer project.

Kevin Johnson, project manager for the new sewer system, said the second rate hike of about $14 per household might begin as early as next month. A final $9 increase will likely be levied during the spring of 2017, he said.

Knutson explained that once the project was finished, ratepayers would probably not be relieved of the raised rates because the hikes include projected ongoing maintenance and operations of the plant. In addition, city leaders have to service a $14.3 million loan over the course of 30 years.

“I understand I’ve got an outlay to begin with, but there’s got to be an end to it,” Hall said. “There’s not going to be a break ever. That’s significant to me,”

 Hall delivered her comments on the heels of Polson resident Elsa Duford, who implored the commission to remember all the people who lined the city’s halls during the first public hearing in 2014.

“There were so many you had to move it to the fire hall. The people lined up against the wall waiting to comment. They were on fixed incomes. They weren’t wealthy. They couldn’t pay more. They were strapped at that time,” Duford said. “Whether they are seniors or they are young people with families and are on a very strict budget and they can’t pay, how are you going to handle that?” 

The commissioners’ job at the hearing was to listen to Polson’s citizens, rather than to offer responses. They will now consider the comments before making their final decision on the rate hikes on June 20.

If approved, the second tier of rate hikes will begin applying to ratepayers in July. Customers will not be billed for the hiked fee until August.

City leaders developed the three-tier rate hike system in 2014, after the commission had to ask Polson ratepayers for what they believed would be a 300 percent increase to their monthly water bills. The increases will pay for the design and construction of a new water treatment system, which must be replaced by 2018 to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s requirements.

“Our current lagoon system, which was build over 50 years ago, is not keeping up with current demands and EPA-mandated effluent requirements,” Knutson said in January 2015. “We have been out of compliance on a regular basis since January 2014.”

Though the idea of repairing the current lagoon system was considered, the city determined in March of 2013 that the current system was beyond repair.

City leaders were able to save money on the new system by altering the original plan, which had been estimated at $18.9 million. The modified sewer system is expected to cost $14.8 million.

“With the $4 million savings, we will see less of a rate increase,” city manager Mark Shrives said in 2015. “We will still be doing another increase, and we will now be going back and doing those calculations.”

City officials knew for up to 15 years that the 50-year-old lagoons would have to be replaced, yet rates stayed flat for at least 10 years.

The current plant should handle the growth of about 2,000 residents by 2034.

The Commission will vote on whether to make the second hike official June 20.

A third and final rate hike is scheduled to be presented to sewer customers near the completion of the sewer system replacement in early 2018, Shrives said.