Now’s the time to be heard on sewage system funding

McMinnville has embarked, and wisely so, on planning for the next 20 years of operation, maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of its sewage transmission and treatment system.

The challenge is to continue meeting the needs of a community facing both growing population demands and increasing regulatory standards, yet keep the cost within reasonable means for taxpayers and ratepayers.

That’s not easy. It requires careful weighing of costs against benefits.

Aided by consultants, the staff has developed five potential scenarios, ranging in essence from doing nothing you don’t absolutely have to, damn the negative impacts, to doing everything you possibly can, damn the onerous costs. We think the focus should probably turn primarily to the middle three, reflecting various levels of compromise between the cheapest and best.

In the late 1900s, the staff notes, “the city did not consistently invest in wastewater infrastructure at a pace necessary to keep up with growth, aging assets and evolving regulatory requirements.”

That neglect forced it to borrow $42 million in the 1990s to help cover $54 million in catch-up needs. The situation was so serious at the time that about 20% of the city’s total flow of sewage, known as “wastewater” by sensitive souls in city employ, was being discharged untreated into the river.

Ever since, the city has been socking away money to meet future needs without resort to assumption of such onerous debt. Its sewer fund is currently generating about $11 million a year, about $6 million of which is going into reserves.

That doesn’t mean McMinnville can get by without floating bonds for major projects at some point. It does mean the city is in better position than most of its counterparts, and much better position than many of them.

Public Works Director Geoff Hunsaker assured the city council earlier this year:

“The city’s model is really nice. Most cities are looking at debt and bonding and things like that, and we’ll have to look at it, too. But we’re in a really good starting point, and we can take the time to make some of these decisions because we have that additional money in the bank, based on prior council policy.”

In all, the staff is projecting $103 million in capital improvement outlays over the next 20 years. The largest are $20.5 million to replace aging downtown and inner-city transmission lines, $16.5 million to upsize main lines on the city’s fast-growing west side, $12.3 million to reduce stormwater intrusion, $6.7 million to upgrade the Cozine Pump Station and $4.8 million to install a new South Cozine pump station.

The city council is currently conducting a series of public work sessions to decide how aggressive it should be in addressing these needs over the plan’s 20-year timeline. But no matter what the council ultimately decides, it will no doubt face cries of pain, at least periodically, from the people who pay the piper.

Potential critics would be well-advised to make their feeling known now, while they can still influence city policy and council direction. If they wait until costs become due some years hence, they risk being told it’s too late — that the city is merely following a course set back when with ample opportunity for public input.