INKOM — The Inkom City Council held an informational meeting Tuesday before a sparse gathering regarding a proposed $2.5 million wastewater project to be placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.

    The city’s 30-year old wastewater treatment plant has not met the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for the quality of discharge into the Portneuf River. As a result, the EPA has fined the city more than $83 per house connection (approximately $28,000) and ordered that the program be fixed or face further penalties and legal action.

    “We have a plan to put together but desperately need our citizens’ help to pass a bond measure to help fix the problem,” read a statement released by Mayor Joel Jolly.

    A recent study of the problems and alternative solutions recommended an improvement to the existing lagoons, the construction of a winter storage pond to retain the runoff and to build a land application system for summer disposal of runoff through sprinkler irrigation to keep it from flowing into the river.

    The bond will allow a $2 million Rural Development Loan to be paid off at 3.5 percent per year over a 40-year period; and a $500,000 USDA Rural Development Grant (the bond must pass in order for these monies to be available). The breakdown of cost would be $195,750 to optimize existing facilities, $1,282,750 for winter pond storage and $1,018,250 for a land application system.

    Costs to Inkom per year include $93,000 (3.5 percent loan repayment), $14,050 (coverage at 15 percent), $4050 (short-lived assets), $10,000 (depreciation through Capital Improvement Funds) and $58,000 (in operation and maintenance fees). The estimated cost to users will not go up and should remain at approximately $44.68 per month.

    The council also promised at least two fair market appraisals of the proposed lands (one, which is located on a flood plain, was a source of discomfort among some in the audience). “We’re not going to spend any more than we have to,” Jolley said.

    If the bond election fails, however, the next best scenario would be to receive the entire $2.5 million for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)  as a 20-year 1.75 percent loan, which would result in an increase to approximately $58 user rate fee.

    Members of the city council were present, as well as city engineer Dick Dyer, who answered several questions regarding the project and the costs therein. A member of  the DEQ, Craig Borrenpohl, was also present.

    “None of this is the fault of the new subdivision,” said councilmember Ernest Moser. “These problems were here long before the subdivision. In fact, this development has actually saved us money. Additional development and population increases could actually help pay this off even earlier.”

    “We’ve tried to come up with a plan that’s the least cost to the ratepayers and that is environmentally sound,” Dyer said. “In order to receive the grant, though, we have to pass the bond measure, to show citizens’ support and make this project that much more successful.

    “The truth is that the city has been fined by the EPA (based on the Clean Water Act), they have been working with the city and the city is about to sign a consent order will levy the fines and stop the violation window and solve the problem. We have until the end of 2014 to fix the situation.”

    He also indicated if the measure passes, the project could be underway with construction initiated and improvements started by this time next year or late August or September, if all goes well.

     “I want to emphasize that the user fees will remain unchanged if this bond passes,” he added. “The bond election is tied to the revenues of the monthly user fees and will have no impact on taxes, whatsoever.

    “The EPA is not going away and there is no other way around this,” Dyer said. “They have established a very strict measure of total maximum daily loads and then divided it between various communities. Our allotment, especially phosphorous and total organic nitrogen, has gone down each year. “We also found that some of our drinking water tests showed that it would microscopically dissolve the copper in your pipes, not all residents, but some, mind you.”

    Faced with a water quality problem with drinking water as well as a wastewater situation, the city and EPA have recently solved the drinking water situation, and also negotiated a way to stop the fines and catch up on resolving the wastewater problem.

    And while it may not be fiscally sound to opt for a 40-year note, but Dyer explained that only with this long-term situation, the RDG would only be available and the user rate would be fixed at 2.75. He said that the city is doing everything it can to keep the user rates down. Through option two - a 20-year loan from the DEQ - a savings of $8,000 over the life of the loan is estimated, even though an increase of $13 per month would take effect.

    But there may be a problem with that alternative, however. “There is a risk for this funding, though,” said Borrenpohl “Where fines have been levied, need and readiness to proceed, Inkom might be very likely to be considered. It can be a cruel system, where the worst players are ranked highest. If we pass the bond election and Inkom is chosen by DEQ next summer, it could possibly prevent the city from having to go through the judicial confirmation route, which is a whole other set of problems.

    “Passing the bond gives the city the best possible solution, in the long run.”

    For his part, Jolley, added “This is tough thing for us to do, too, to ask for money, because we’re in a bad economy, but we are affected, as well. We have to do something, though. It’s not an easy thing, but we can feel comfortable and know why we are doing it.”