Solution to Sewer Plant Snag Offered

Hoping to avoid a potentially costly showdown with a state water agency, the City Council on Tuesday is set to consider an interim solution to the 18-month stalemate that has stopped passage of a $75-million plan to upgrade the Hill Canyon Sewage Treatment Plant.

But a $2.50 monthly sewer-fee increase proposed by city officials to pay for ongoing sewage improvements and to comply with health and safety laws appears not to have the four-fifths vote needed.

The State Water Resources Control Board warned Thousand Oaks earlier this year that unless the city put together a timetable to upgrade the aging sewer plant by year’s end, it would have to repay $12.5 million in water grants. Thousand Oaks could also lose its permit to operate a sewage plant, which would lead to a state-imposed moratorium on growth in the city.

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, however, refuses to approve the sewer-fee increases needed to improve the sewer plant, because she believes current residents are unfairly shouldering the load of an expansion project that will also benefit future homeowners.

Newly elected Councilwoman Linda Parks shares that view, though Parks said Friday that she remains undecided on the latest proposed sewer-fee increase.

“Is this the cheapest alternative?” Parks asked. “Is it just a replacement of existing [equipment] that we would have to do anyway, or is it a function of expansion due to growth?”

Councilman Mike Markey concedes that given the philosophical stance of Parks and Zeanah, he is not optimistic about ending the stalemate at Tuesday’s meeting. Like city public works officials, Markey believes Thousand Oaks has no choice but to split the cost of the expansion between current and future residents according to state law.

“Personally, I don’t think the issue is the waste-water plant,” Markey said. “The issue seems to be that some council members don’t think current residents should ever have to pay for any of this. And if that’s the case, this [stalemate] is never going to end. I wish I could charge the whole thing to future residents too, but [the law] doesn’t let us do that.”

The law, AB 1600, requires that improvements to sewer plants be divided between current residents, who pay in the form of higher waste-water fees, and future residents, who pay sewer-connection fees as part of purchasing a home.

Parks said that in other instances, Thousand Oaks has been able to pay for sewer improvements totally through connection charges, and she wants to hear an explanation of why this cannot be done now.

Council members approved an increase in connection fees from $3,900 to $5,300 per residential unit earlier this year, but Zeanah and former Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski refused to support the $7.35-per-month sewer-fee hike that city officials had proposed to pay for the remainder of the upgrade. The City Council later approved a $1.80 increase, which just covers operating costs and will not pay for ongoing improvements, according to city officials.

The latest proposal to increase sewer fees by $2.50 represents half of a two-step recommendation to end the standoff. The proposal was offered by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse, which conducted a comprehensive $125,000 audit of the waste-water expansion earlier this year. Even after increasing the fees to $14.80, Thousand Oaks would still have one of the lowest average sewer fees in Ventura County--more than Santa Paula’s $11.35 but much less than the Ojai Valley Sanitation District’s $26.43.

The other suggestion, which will also be a subject of Tuesday’s hearing, is for council members to consider hiring an engineering consultant to conduct an analysis of the expansion plan. The objective is to determine whether there are ways to cut the project’s $75-million price tag.

Even with the $2.50 increase, and any reduced costs that result from the engineering study, council members will have to consider another fee hike to pay for the expansion, according to city officials.

“I’m open to getting the total cost as low as possible, and if there’s a way of down scaling the work project, I’m all for it,” Councilman Andy Fox said. “But I don’t think there is any question that there will have to be another increase.”

The $2.50 increase would cover some short-term improvements to the waste-water plant. One of these projects, a $6.6-million upgrade and replacement of the sewer plant’s digester tanks, is already underway, and city officials say unless council members approve a sewer-fee increase soon to pay for the work, they could be sued by the contractor.

“I have to stay optimistic,” newly appointed Mayor Judy Lazar said. “We’re talking about the health and safety of Thousand Oaks residents here. This [two-step approach] is not my favorite way of doing this. But if this is what it takes to move this issue forward, then I’m all for it.”