Subsidy Could Reduce Monthly Cost to $50

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board (SLSB) was presented with a proposal to reduce projected costs for Phase I residential lots from $165 to $50 per month and commercial lots to $75 per month. With the new proposal, there may not be a vote on the proposed treatment plant and collection system but landowners would have a protest provision.

At the July 21 board meeting, District Manager Greg Robertson explained how subsidies and changes in how the construction debt is spread across the district would accomplish this.

The district currently has a funding package on the table from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (RD) for the construction of the wastewater treatment plant and Phase I of the collection system. Robertson has been trying to bring down the per month cost RD had estimated.

Robertson said when the district first starts there wouldn’t be enough customers sharing the operating costs making it unaffordable. By subsidizing those costs the district would have time to connect enough users to make it more affordable.

The proposed subsidies would be in effect for four years from the time the treatment plant started operation. Robertson felt four years would be enough time because he expects funding for more phases of the collection system on a two-year cycle.

The subsidies would be funded from three sources including the district’s current reserve fund, a grant from Missoula County and continuing the current sewer district assessment.

The sewer district currently has a reserve fund that has been growing at $29,000 per year since 2011. The reserve fund started when Missoula County agreed to provide managers free of charge.

Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss wrote, in an email to the Pathfinder, that Robertson discussed the idea of the subsidies with her. The full commission has not discussed the issue yet.

Curtiss feels Robertson has been doing a good job working with the RD to make the funding package work for the people of Seeley Lake. The proposed funds would amount to $100,000 of the county’s Community Development Block Grant spread out over the four years. The funds would only be spent after the district exhausted its reserves.

Robertson plans to take the proposal to the full county commission once RD gives approval.

The third portion of the funding for the subsidies would come from keeping the current assessment. This would add to the projected monthly costs. Currently residents pay $79.85 per year. Vacant and commercial land pays by the square footage.

The subsidies would keep the operating and maintenance portion of customers’ bills to $25 per month.

The construction debt portion of Robertson’s proposal spreads the cost of the treatment plant and main sewer line to town across the full district instead of just the first phase. Each phase would pay for its collection system as it is built. Robertson said this would also allow the full district a say in the project instead of just the first two phases as RD had originally mandated.

Robertson’s proposal splits parcels between residential and commercial based on the Seeley Lake Regional Land Use Plan since there is no zoning.

For Phase I, residential land would pay $25 per month and commercial land $50 per month in debt service for the treatment plant and Phase I of the collection system. As lots connect to the system they would pay the subsidized $25 per month in operating cost.

All other phases would start with residential land paying $15 per month and commercial land $31 per month in debt service for the treatment plant and sewer main to town. Each phase would add the cost of their collection system as it is built.

Robertson said under his proposal all the district landowners would get the option to protest the system but there would probably not be a vote. He feels this is important because the people who own the land are ultimately responsible for the debt. A vote would exclude landowners who didn’t live in the district.

For the proposal to go forward, the district need approval from, RD, the Missoula County Commissioners, the bond council and the district board.

Phase I of the collection system includes all commercial property on the east side of Highway 83, between Cedar Lane and Redwood Lane. Also included are all properties between Tamarack Drive and Highway 83 that are north of Redwood Lane and south of Larch Lane, including all properties fronting Larch Lane and Pine Drive, north to Cedar Lane.

The next regular SLSD board meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. Following the meeting will be a public hearing for the annual assessments at 6 p.m.