Council Advances Toward Sewer Fee

Facing nearly $39 million in “immediate needs” for its aging sewer system, the Huntington Beach City Council has taken a step toward establishing a sewer fee to help finance costly repairs.

The unanimous vote late Tuesday night authorizes city staffers to draft a sewer fee program by Feb. 20. The vote came less than two weeks after six current and former city staff members testified before the Orange County Grand Jury about leaking sewer lines.

The Grand Jury is investigating whether the city violated health and safety codes by failing to report massive leaks to the state water board and county health officials.

The sewer fee is not a done deal. Huntington Beach City Council members have twice rejected such a fee--in 1996 and again last year. The council will formally consider the fee, along with details of the program, Feb. 20.

“This should have been done a long time ago, but we didn’t have the political will,” Councilman Ralph H. Bauer said Wednesday. “Maybe we will this time.”

Bauer proposed the fee--which must be approved by at least five of the seven council members--last month. City staffers estimate that sewer repairs over the next two decades will top $120 million. Of that, more than $92 million will be needed to repair or replace cracked and broken lines.

The city began reinforcing cracked and broken pipes more than a year ago, but Bauer said the slip-lining project won’t solve all of the city’s sewer problems.