Council Considers Funding for Waste Water Plant Project

The City Council will again delve into the murky, volatile issue of the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant today, when it considers whether to set aside $2.75 million to pay for an ongoing construction project.

In October 1995, the City Council awarded a contract to Kiewit Pacific Co. for $5.2 million to build two new digesters for the waste water treatment plant, rehabilitate one of the existing digesters and demolish the other. The project, expected to cost $6.6 million, is now underway.

The digester improvements are part of a $75-million expansion and upgrade of the aging waste water treatment plant--an overhaul that Mayor Andy Fox, council members Mike Markey and Judy Lazar and city public works officials all regard as critically necessary for the safety of Thousand Oaks residents.

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However, the expansion plan--and the proposed $7.35 monthly sewer fee increase city officials have recommended to pay for it--have been sidetracked by council members Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski, who believe both are larger than needed. The City Council needs a four-fifths vote to raise the fees.

“Staff is not willing to reevaluate this issue based on the divergent views of the council,” Zeanah said. “We did not need expansion” of the digesters, Zeanah said.

Council members recently approved a $1.80 monthly sewer fee increase, but city officials contend that hike will only cover current operating costs. The council also recently voted to raise developers’ waste water connection fees from $3,900 to $5,310 per residential unit, giving the city some money for improvements.

But city officials say that because of state law, they can only use the connection fee money to pay for 60% of the digesters. Connection fees come from the pockets of new residents, since they essentially pay the connection fees when they buy a new house, and state laws say that new residents cannot be burdened with more than 60% of the costs of such improvements.

That means something has to give soon. Public Works Director Don Nelson said the digesters could be completed with connection fee money, but that would only be a temporary solution. To comply with the law, at least 40% of the overall cost would later have to be repaid to the waste water fund--either with money from increased sewer fees, as city officials continue to propose, or from another city source such as the general fund, he said.

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So far, Thousand Oaks has set aside $1.25 million for the digester project, all of it from connection fees. To date, Kiewit Pacific has been paid more than $1 million, and Nelson is asking the council today to set aside another $2.75 million from connection fees so the city can continue paying the contractor. That would make a total of $4 million entirely from connection fees--or about 60% of the project’s expected cost.

Other improvements that public works officials say are necessary, such as the replacement of waste water interceptor lines, have been delayed due to the council stalemate.