The Centralia City Council is close to approving a new plan to require 101 Centralia homes to ditch septic tanks and hook up to the city’s sewer system.
The Centralia City Council discussed different payment models for the city’s septic-to-sewer five-year plan Tuesday night, ultimately agreeing on a “hybrid” model that would split the costs for the conversion between landowners and the local government.
Even so, the plan has yet to be finalized.
After testimony from members of the public, councilors also discussed techniques to allow for establishing flexible payment options.
“Is there a payment plan?” asked concerned citizen Trish Geist. “How can they set up a payment plan that's $25 a month when you're looking at people on fixed incomes that are elderly, which we do have a lot?”
Councilors included direction for staff to explore loan- and lien-based payment options for landowners in the final motion. The option could mean landowners who are of low income or facing hardship could have the upfront costs paid for by the city before paying back the cost over the coming years.
Centralia Public Works Director Andy Oien, who presented the septic-to-sewer plan to the council and has led the team developing the effort, estimates the full cost of each hook-up, including fees and construction costs, would come out to around $17,000 per home.
The biggest costs for each hook-up includes a roughly $9,500 connection fee paid to the city and an estimated $7,500 in private contractor work to connect a home to the sewer and decommission a septic tank. The motion from the city to pay the connection fee would mean homeowners would pay exclusively for the private contractor work.
According to Oien, the $9,500 fee the city might cover is collected to help the local wastewater system maintain and expand. In this case, the city would pay those fees itself through an internal transfer from city funds that have yet to be identified into the city’s wastewater capital improvement fund.
“When you take on additional customers, you are guaranteeing service to that customer for life,” Oien said. “You save that in a rainy day savings account or rainy day fund, if you will. It pays for capacity expansion. It pays for pipe replacement.”
Both Oien and Centralia Water Operations Manager Chris Stone assured the city council that the $9,500 fee is not a cost that can be responsibly waived or forgotten about. Rather, it is essential to the city’s ongoing wastewater operations.
The septic-to-sewer plan being considered by the city was first discussed during an April workshop and has since been discussed with landowners during a small weekend town hall and during a June 9 business meeting. The plan is to transition homes to protect local water quality.
During a June 9 business meeting, Oien stressed the importance of the transition, telling the council “we are being warned.”
“It’s time for us to do something,” Oien said. “It is time for Centralia to take action and remove septics from these zones.”
While the highest nitrate levels have been linked to the ongoing operation of the Bob Oke Game Farm in the Fords Prairie area, hydrology experts have told the city that removing septic tanks over the critical aquifer is also an important step.
According to Oien, nitrate levels in wells across the city are collectively around 3 or 4 milligrams per liter, but wells in the Fords Prairie area have measured as high as 6, which is considered dangerous to human health and can cause health problems, especially in vulnerable individuals and young children.
The proposed plan operates in five phases based on water quality impact.
The first phase will require 37 homes located on the most critical part of the local aquifer to switch to sewer. Each phase from there expands outward from that most critical area, with phase two covering 16 homes, phase three covering seven homes, phase four covering 31 homes, and phase five covering 10 homes that do not sit directly on the critical aquifer.
In each phase, the impacted homeowners are expected to have one year to ditch their septic system and connect to city sewer.
Oien and staff have presented three payment options since first discussing the plan.
The first option would leave the entire approximately $17,000 cost of hook-ups for each home on the homeowner.
The second option, referred to as the “aquifer protection model,” would see the city pay for all of the septic-to-sewer conversions for homes located on top of Centralia’s critical aquifer. That approach would require the city to use $1.7 million from its water fund to pay for the expenses.
The downside of the approach, according to Oien, is that it would likely force the city to increase water rates for users across the city in order to fund the work.
Oien remarked during Tuesday's meeting that construction costs would likely be higher for the city than for the homeowners, with the city required to go through the competitive bidding process.
However, staff added that the approach could become more palatable if the city lands a state water quality grant, which could pay for some of the phases entirely. Oien and Stone added that the city was told it narrowly missed out on such a grant last cycle, meaning it could have a good case for the state funding.
“We narrowly missed funding that was half a million, roughly half a million, dollars that would have helped fund this,” Oien said. “We are applying for that grant this fall.”
Finally, there is the hybrid approach, which the city has considered most closely. It would see the city attempt to reduce costs for landowners while also minimizing costs to the city in an effort to avoid the need for water rate increases.
The city council has not made a final decision on the septic-to-sewer transition plan. City staff plan to bring back a final version of the plan during the council’s first meeting next month on Tuesday, Sept. 8, for a final decision on the funding plan.
For previous reporting on nitrate issues in Centralia related to the Bob Oke Game Farm, visit https://tinyurl.com/2bbmrkw2.
