Letters: Ratepayers should know where sewer money goes

While you are sitting on the toilet, you might think about how to pay for the new sewer treatment plant.

At the Aug. 18, 2008, Crescent City Council meeting photos were shown to prove the plant is half completed with only 17 months until operation. Thigh-sized pipes curved in patterns as gracefully as a group of modern dancers on a stage with 7-foot-deep concrete pits dense with steel bars poking out from their edges. Speakers ardently pointed out problems with the price tag citizens are going to have to pay. That can't be flushed away.

Speakers were sad to see the dollars lost for police work going to pay for construction problems on the sewer plant. The contractor fielded challenges due to contaminated dirt removal and non-sticking flooring costing millions of dollars, and invited anyone concerned to come to his office, outside the work site fenced area.

Councilwoman Kelly Schellong took the only promising action when she suggested the council and staff hold town hall meetings for the public, staff, ad hoc committee and council to better understand how to set the sewer rates. Fairness wasn't mentioned, but growth forecasts were dwelled on, probably because some want more of it and some want less of it. Assumptions about growth have to be made to set the rates so the lender is paid. They didn't say the price tag or terms of the loan. It is not like Crescent City had the money for the plant when it started out.

The intent of the California Constitution regarding rates, since 1997, is that the existing users should not pay for the part of the plant that will serve future users — unless they want to.

It is important to know what you are paying for. So on the bill it should separate the capital costs and service costs. Also all costs need to be linked to real costs — that includes the plant costs and the hookup costs. New users will have to pay much more, but how much, how fast?

Existing users will have to pay more, too.

This will take some creative problem solving — before, after, and during the town hall meeting — to figure out. A good topic to discuss for people with a strong stomach, who like puzzles, love numbers, believe in equity, and are thinking of running or voting at the next election.

Wendy Bertrand

Gasquet