A recent Missoulian article [July 15, 2018] about Whitefish Lake and a subdivision on its shore has information that seems relevant to Seeley’s sewer controversy.
It was proposed that the Lion Mountain subdivision with 120 lots on the lake’s west shore be connected to the Whitefish city sewer system. The estimated cost, based on decades of data for that system, was about $150/month/lot to connect to the already existing, up-and-running sewer system. In addition, by accepting city services, those lot owners would eventually be annexed into the city and also pay city property tax.
Lion Mountain Subdivision isn’t a low income neighborhood. The homeowners association rejected the proposal as being too expensive and not wanting to be attached to the city of Whitefish and additional taxes.
Seeley isn’t a city yet but a sewer is a step in that direction and the controversy is about cost. The problem that no amount of praise for clean water can overcome, is the fact that too few users are being asked to commit to paying off a $20 M+ open-ended-debt with no reliable information about monthly rates, or real cost of later phases. The plan seems to be, “let’s just start building Phase 1. We’ll find out how much it all costs and how to pay for it....later. Trust us.”
That, coupled with the idea that Phase 1 should be subsidized by later Phases, and not a word of how obviously unfair that idea is, is a strong indicator of how financially weak the proposal is and what makes this project such a hard sell...no matter how much some folks need it, or how much others want it...or how much time and energy has been invested, most all of it against majority wish and vote.
Show me a proposal with some real idea of future costs, supported by an adequate number of users and I’ll vote for it. Not this one.
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