Roundup

Residents can expect to see a hike in their water and sewer bills

starting in October after the City Council approved a new sewer usage fee

Monday night that will pay for the maintenance and repair of the decrepit

sewer system.

It will be a flat fee of $5.30 per month for single-family homes,

$4.40 a month for apartments, mobile homes and townhouses and $6.15 for

most businesses.

The fee, which was approved by a 6 to 1 vote, will raise about $5.6

million annually, with $1.1 million of that to be used for maintenance

including cleaning, videotaping and operating life stations. The

remaining $4.5 million is earmarked for capitol improvements including

slip lining and pump-station replacements.

“This fee was necessary if the city was going to be able to fix all

the sewers and do what we need to do to comply with the orders of the

quality control board,” said City Administrator Ray Silver.

The majority of council members agreed that the fee was the only

viable way to address the widespread and costly problem.

Councilman Dave Garofalo cast the single dissenting vote, saying that

he didn’t feel residents believed there was a problem and so it should be

put to a public vote.

An additional $700,000 will come out of the general fund each year,

the council decided on a 5 to 2 vote. That money will be used for sewer

maintenance.

The vote comes four months after Mayor Pam Julien-Houchinpleaded

guilty on behalf of the city to three violations of state water laws by

failing to report leaks to state and county health officials.

Orange County Supreme Court Commissioner Martin Engquist put the city

on five years’ probation, during which time officials must cooperate with

a cleanup order, which already had been filed by the Santa Ana Regional

Water Quality Control Board.

They city was also fined $75,000 for violating sections of state water

code governing negligent and intentional discharge of pollutants.

In a plea agreement, the city also was fined $250,000 to assess and

clean up damage from the leaks.

Prosecutors said the city allowed as much as 71,000 gallons of raw

sewage to leak every day for several years in the late 1990s and failed to report the leaks to three local and state agencies as required by law.

But even before that settlement the city was trying to deal with the

problem, said city officials.

“We were working very hard to find funds and on identifying problems,”

said Bill Workman, assistant city administrator. “A citizen group had

recommended operation and capitol needs but we also recognized very

clearly that the adoption of a sewer fee was important to assure both

those agencies that Huntington was working toward a resolution of aging

sewer pipes.”