City continues plan to add sewer fee

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials have a better idea of how a planned

sewer fee will look on the water bills of residents and businesses this

fall.

Paul Emery, the city’s deputy director of public works, presented the

latest plan for the fee to the City Council on Monday, including its

effect on large commercial and industrial businesses and the city’s

schools.

In February, the City Council pushed ahead to develop a fee that would

generate funds to operate, maintain, repair and replace sewer

infrastructure as necessary. Then, city officials estimated that

single-family homes would pay about $6 a month, and those in multifamily

complexes would see a $5 charge.

While those estimates haven’t changed much, they are just two of the

five categories facing the new fee, Emery said.

Small industrial and commercial businesses are expected to face a

monthly $7 sewer fee, while their larger counterparts, such as Boeing

Co., will be on a different rate structure, with a fee of 67 cents per

100 cubic feet of waste water discharged each year.

Elementary and high schools may also be charged separately, about

$1.16 and $1.87 per annual average daily attendance, city officials said.

Over the next 20 years, about $132.2 million will be needed to keep

the city’s sewer pipelines, manholes and lift stations in working order,

they added.

“The first estimates were conceptual in nature, but these are pretty

close to being the final fee rates,” said Bill Workman, assistant city

administrator. “Now we’re planning for some community outreach programs,

meetings with school officials, as well as public workshops on the fee

plan.”