Toledo Adopts Water Rate Study, Authorizes Bond Sale

The Toledo City Council Wednesday adopted a water rate study and passed a resolution authorizing the sale of $6.7 million dollars in revenue bonds. The bonds will finance the construction of Phases I and II of the city’s water system improvement project. Because it was passed as a “non-emergency measure,” the bonds cannot be sold for at least 30 days. The  study, from Civil West Engineering, recommends a rate increase sufficient to generate revenue to pay off the first two phases of the city’s water capital improvements. Although the study recommends rate increases, any actual change in rates will be discussed by the council later. The recommendation is for a base water rate of $27 per month and a water consumption rate of $4 per thousand gallons. If that recommendation is adopted, the average Toledo water bill would rise from $32.39 per month to $48.40 per month.

The idea is to set rates high enough to pay back bonds will be used to finance the projects. City officials stress that a future rate increase is only on the water portion of the city utility bill. Charges for sewer, lighting and street maintenance will not change. Copies of the water rate study are available at City Hall and will soon be posted on the city website. The changes proposed by the study would move Toledo from one of Oregon’s lower water rates to a rate near the statewide average. Council members spent almost an hour in Tuesday’s work session discussing the merits of a higher base rate versus a higher water consumption rate, which groups may be unfairly penalized by each, and whether some type of low-income assistance could be made available.

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Sewer Mainline Fails in Toledo

Toledo Public Works employees spent part of their New Year’s Eve repairing a section of sanitary sewer mainline on SE 7th Street in Toledo. Public Works Director Adam Denlinger said about 25 feet of mainline were repaired. The work included reconnecting a lateral line which serves several apartments and a single family home. Denlinger said “Due to the depth of the mainline (14 feet) special equipment was needed to safely excavate the line. As a result, the department needed to bring in a track excavator capable of reaching it.”

The line failed due to age or fatigue. “In fact,” Denlinger said, “after excavating down to the pipe, crews discovered that some sections were completely deteriorated. As a result, a manhole will need to be installed to allow the department to evaluate further reaches of the line, provide for future maintenance.” Future improvements may also be necessary in that area, he said. Crews barricaded the site and will monitor throughout the weekend. Manhole installation is scheduled for January 4.

(Read all the stories in our Water series here)

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Cold Weather Hurts Water System

 

Toledo public works crews spent Monday night (December 12) working on restoring water to a one-block section of Toledo’s Main Street. Public Works Director Adam Denlinger said there were “several system breaks” resulting from recent cold temperatures. He said the most notable break occurred above Toledo’s Rock Park, about 5:00 p.m., which required shutting off water service to a one block section of the city’s Main Street. Denlinger said crews worked into the evening to repair a two-inch waterline to the fire protection system at the History Center building. A small number of businesses and residents were without water as crews replaced a short section pipe. Crews successfully completed repairs and restored service to the area by 8:00 PM, he said.

 

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Seal Rock Voters Authorize Water Bond

(Updated 11-9 to show 99.9% of the vote counted by the Lincoln County Clerk’s office) Voters in the Seal Rock Water District have approved a general obligation bond. Funds will pay for upcoming improvements in the district, as well as to help pay for future improvements in the Toledo Water District, which supplies Seal Rock with its water. 667 voted in favor, 522 were opposed.

Other local options also passed. Voters in the Central Coast Fire District (Waldport) okayed a tax renewal for their local fire and rescue service by a 723-277 margin. Yachats voters were overwhelmingly in favor of their fire and rescue option tax, 662-146. The vote was a bit closer in the North Lincoln Fire and Rescue District, with 1,520 yes votes and 1,387 no votes. The Kernville-Gleneden Beach-Lincoln Beach Water District has proposed a five-year local option tax for capital projects. That was approved 494-346.

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Council Approves Bond Process, Water Rates Will Rise

Toledo Water District customers will see rates rise significantly under a bond-sale plan approved September 7 by the Toledo City Council. The actual rate of increase would depend on the amount of bonds sold, and the calendar of sale. City Manager Michelle Amberg said “People should count on their bills going up,” but when they will rise is still unknown. “The earliest the bonds could be sold could be March 2012…but it could be much later than that,” Amberg said, adding “It depends on how they are packaged and the calendar” for sale and payback.

The revenue bonds would create an estimated $8.6 million in debt to pay for improvements laid out in the city’s 20-year water master plan adopted this spring. They would finance the first two phases of construction, resulting in an estimated 82% increase in the average water bill, from $32.34 per month to $58.67 per month. Amberg stressed in a memo to council that the figures “are provided for comparison and are based on our best estimates at this time; they are subject to change as future variables arise.” Council members debated revenue bonds, where water customers provide the revenue through rates, and general obligation bonds, which require a taxpayer vote because they increase property taxes. Although there was some sentiment that voters should be asked to agree at the ballot box to future increases, it was important to be prepared for revenue bonds to get the project underway as quickly as possible.

There are four phases to the plan. The costs of Phase I will be borne entirely by customers of the Toledo Water District, as all the improvements are directly related to the city system. Half the cost of later phases would be paid for by the Seal Rock Water District, which buys all of its water from Toledo. Councilors have been discussing bonding vs. borrowing, because the city’s water rates are too low to allow for grants or other government assistance. The Water District began raising rates this year, and warned that rate increases will continue.

The need for work on the water infrastructure has been discussed for several years, and the system is prone to random failures as it ages, according to Toledo Public Works Director Adam Denlinger. In July, emergency repairs had to be done to the city’s drinking water clearwell and a water main at 10th and Main Streets. In mid-August, emergency repairs were done at the Siletz River water intake, to fill a huge washout caused by continuing high water over the winter and spring. The Siletz Water Intake, built in the 1930s, was identified by the city’s consulting engineers as a facility that could “fail at any time.”

The city’s water master plan is ambitious, but Denlinger says it has to be, to upgrade aging systems, improve fire safety and plan for growth. Important parts of the system’s infrastructure are more than 40 years old, and need to be replaced, including intake piping, water storage facilities and neighborhood transmission piping. Phase I involves construction of a new storage tank at Skyline Drive and a booster pump for areas of the system not served by a tank gravity feed. Denlinger said improvements in distribution piping to improve water flow are also needed. The most recent study showed more than 20% of the city’s 142 fire hydrants have inadequate pressure, most of them in the Skyline area and along SE Sturdevant Road south of SE Ammon Road.

Phase II of the plan would see replacement of the Siletz River intake and pump station, and the piping that crosses the Olalla Reservoir. The report assesses the 70-year-old Siletz facility as being “in very poor condition” and says it must be entirely replaced in the near future.

The third phase includes refurbishment of the city’s two existing storage tanks on Ammon Road and Graham Street, some improvements in water treatment capacity and more work on the water distribution system.

The final phase proposes $9.6 million be spent on the 42-year-old Mill Creek pump station and 5.3 miles of transmission piping into the city’s water treatment facility. Most of this piping is 60 years old and needs replacement. The existing pipeline is too small to meet flow needs and is laid through inaccessible areas such as wetlands or under buildings.

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