The obstacle: money
Pat Grady, assistant to the general manager for Hi-Desert Water District, told
the assembly a plan was developed in 1998 that would bring a sewer system to
the town in seven phases over nine years, ultimately treating eight million
gallons a day.
The project’s cost now is estimated at $57.4 million, not including
financing, which would add $17.2 million to the price tag.
The water district has bought land for a treatment plant near the town’s
eastern border with Joshua Tree.
Grady explained the water district plans to seek grants to offset the costs of
construction and operation.
The Town Council members had no trouble recognizing the challenge involved in
assembling more than $57 million, and were careful in their suggestions on how
the Town might contribute.
With a total budget of just under $10 million, the Town clearly does not
have the resources to make a substantive financial contribution to the system.
Mayor Bill Neeb observed the Town might use part of its legislative capital to
search for state and federal funds.
Charging fees to existing and new developments and asking voters to approve a
new tax or bond issue are among other ways the wastewater bill might be payed.
Would voters agree to a tax?
“It’s time to make the tough decisions,” is how council member Chad
Mayes makes an arm’s-length reference to putting a bond measure or
assessment proposition on the ballot.
Luckino calls it “taxpayer buy-in” when he discusses the subject.
All the council members have said that before putting a tax proposal on the
ballot, they would survey the people of Yucca Valley.
“We need to know what the people’s priorities are,” said Luckino.
Neeb said if the council intends to pursue a tax or bond proposal, it should
done soon.
“We need to get this matter in play because the need for it is not going
away,” the mayor put it plainly.
What about impact fees?
New construction has exacerbated the need for sewage treatment, so
developments may be charged fees to help pay for that need.
When council member Lori Herbel asked about wastewater impact fees, water
district general manager Lee Pearl replied that fees for the first phase of
the project would be collected mostly from new development.
To a lesser degree, fees would be charged from existing properties, Pearl
said.
To Herbel’s second question about how much owners of existing homes would be
charged if they were required to connect to the system, the manager answered
that hasn’t been determined.
“We need more of these meetings,” Herbel declared in a following
interview. “The public needs to know the immediate and extended costs for
sewer and for water.”
The town’s largest development project is a proposal by Century Vintage
Homes to construct a tract that will eventually number more than 1,400 homes
one mile south of the proposed plant.
At a workshop last August, Century Vintage Homes representative Bob Albertson
told the water board his firm was prepared to deliver a treatment plant that
would get Yucca Valley’s sewer system started.
A wastewater agency?
A few of the water directors and council members suggested contracting with an
agent who would focus on moving the sewer system forward.
White advocated hiring a full-time program management team to establish
wastewater treatment in Yucca Valley, financed jointly between the town and
water district.
On the council, Leone gave the idea his eager support.
Some of the two agencies’ leaders suggested exploring a regional solution to
the problem. Others disputed the idea, saying a regional or Basinwide approach
could require too much political organization and would amount to almost
starting over.
An overdue start
Members of both the water district and the council voiced the opinion that
their joint meeting was a long-overdue beginning to a project that should have
been started by now.
Leone mildly criticized the progress that has been made by the water district
so far.
Saying the system should have been installed years ago, he conceded that the
Town could have taken a more active role in the past.
“If we need a partnership to get this done, then let’s form one right now
and get busy,” he declared.
Counterparts on the water board agreed with him.
“We’ve been at this thing for a good number of years,” said Duran, who
is vice president of the water board. “I would have liked to have gotten
further along than we are now.”
Said water board president Bob Stadum, “We’ve been talking about this
since the early 1970s; we’ve been planning it since the early ’90s. It’s
time.”
