Sedona wastewater construction workers in action
Sedona AZ (April 14, 2010) – by Lin Ennis, Sedona Times newspaper and SedonaEye.com Chapel Chimes column contributing writer:
Dear Sedona neighbors,
Here’s a summary, as I remember the scene:
9:20 pm…just home from the Sedona City Council meeting. Council members and the city attorney were tired and started making up scenarios that hadn’t been mentioned, saying, “Is this what you meant?” Scary stuff!
Rate Increases
Rates will be increased according to the schedule that was published: 15% for each of the next two years, then 10% for each of the next three—an increase of 76% over five years. However, the Council can revisit rates at any time. Reviewing them in three years was discussed.
Oh the passion with which people spoke against increases! Surprisingly, several people spoke in favor: Al Spector, who owns much of Uptown; Dmitri, who used to own Casa Rincon and still owns something; and Jennifer Wesselhoff, president of the Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of the Board of Directors.
Arguments That Failed to Impress:
1. We don’t have a cashflow problem; we have a spending problem.
2. The sewage treatment plant is as basic as roads and police, and similarly should be paid for by the city, not the residents. Give up the “Enterprise Fund” [profit-making] branding.
3. There is a 22-year-old precedent for 46% of city sales tax funding [not ‘subsidizing’!] the plant
4. We were told – in writing – sales tax would pay for the Chapel Area infrastructure
5. This is a covert tax, since you’ll be diverting 26% more of sales tax into other projects you can’t name (some named them as paving, parks, marketing, etc.)
6. You’re casting a heavy burden upon 60% of residents – who did not choose to be sewered – which is an unfair share.
7. It’s patently unfair to charge a landlord for unpaid sewer fees by tenants. Vet users financially, as do all other utilities.
8. In an economic system you constantly remind us is “tourist-based,” find another ‘industry.’ Don’t palm off on residents what you signed up for with tourist dollars. [Is this the same as saying: “Get a job!”?]
9. The system is in almost constant failure mode and breech of ADEQ permit, yet you want to force homes with working on-site systems to connect to a failing system.
10. The Wastewater Treatment Plant is non-sustainable. It does not have a sustainability model even from an environmental perspective, let alone a financial one.
11. The Wastewater Code [need I remind you it is called ‘Chapter 13’?] clearly states the city is not liable for discontinuing sewer services. [While a careful reading of City documents suggests that based on a prior lawsuit for not extending sewer service, the intent may be to state ‘non-liability for discontinuing sewer service expansion,’ the actual literal wording suggests that if there is a power outtage, or earthquake, or mishap of any kind and the centralized system fails to support residential and commercial discharge, the city has no culpability for ensuing damage to real property.] This language must be adjusted!
12. All possible funds should be funneled toward reducing loan principals in order to slash interest and save us all money.
Connection Deferral
I was particularly pleased with the deferral plan Public Works and the Assistant City Manager developed. Basically, if you get your septic system certified, you can defer sewer connection for five years, at which time you can get your system certified again and ask for another five years. Under all circumstances, you must connect within 10 years.
However, you may have one year at the beginning of that in which to decide whether or not to connect, and there may be no penalties or interest of any kind during that year. I say may, because this is where the discussion started getting really muddy, with councilors/staff confusing the non-user fee with the capacity fee and mixing up the penalties for non-compliance with either. The one-year time period essentially doubles the connection window from the prior [current] Wastewater Code.
If you have not yet paid your capacity fee, your capacity fee will be $5,325, regardless of when you eventually pay it. The rate goes up to that level July 1, 2010.
You’ll receive your notice to connect in August, just missing the lower rate of $5,150 by a month. (I recommend protesting that.)
Jerry Frey asked, “Are you just nickel-and-diming these people till they connect?” Expressly because no one is allowed to pay the capacity fee until they get their letter.)
If you decide not to connect immediately, you’ll have a year in which to pay your capacity fee, get your on-site system certified as functioning well, and sign an agreement with the City to defer connection for up to five years. At the end of five years, you may again seek system certification and request another five years’ deferment.
Expanding your home or selling your home within the deferment period will not change the status of the deferral. It stays with the property.
The monthly charge for not connecting to the sewer system will be 1 ½ times the going monthly rate. While it costs the city only 1 1/2 of the monthly rate to provide you with a sewer system to which you do not contribute ($240/yr), there is a punitive (so-called motivational) element to the non-user fee.
The Future
Whatever policy is accepted now, which mostly pertains to the Chapel Area, will be codified (made part of the City’s Wastewater Code) and thus be extended going forward in perpetuity. These rules last forever until we change them.
Financing Available
Best-kept secret in Sedona: You may pay your capacity fee incrementally over a three-year period with an interest rate of Prime+ (the Finance person [Barbara] said she thought the plus was 3%).
This is not new. It’s always been ‘on the books.’
Non-compliance Penalties
If you ignore all pleas to connect to the centralized wastewater treatment system, you will be billed for the capacity fee in the month following the allowable connection window. Each month of non-payment will cost you 1 � % interest, which you may pay as you go or accumulate.
In addition, you will be billed monthly an environmental penalty fee of two-times the current monthly sewer rate. While Councilor Hamilton urged a greater difference between the environmental penalty and non-user fees, people were tired and acceded to leaving the penalty where it is. (Some people have been paying this for up to 15 years!)
I hoped for a reduction to 1 1/2 the going rate for non-user, which would cover city costs, or at the most, an amount equal to actually taking my @#$% and processing it! Unfortunately, after some brilliant, and some misguided, discussion, there remains a punitive element to this charge.
Pay more than those who pump their @#$% uphill to the treatment plant. This is very bad juju!
Support
Thank you to all who attended (standing room only) and to all who wrote, called, emailed, talked, and in other ways thought through and conveyed your personal and political opinions. Though it is often frustrating to be involved in municipal policy making, it is certainly better than being “done unto” without a fight!
Questions
If you have questions, please email all of your representatives (city councilors) at http://www.sedonaaz.gov/Sedonacms/index.aspx?page=64
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