News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The City of Sisters inched closer to locking up funds for a sewer system, with an award of $1.25 million in loans and grants of $750,000 made January 6 by the Oregon Economic Development Department.
The loans will be paid back from the $7 million in bonds approved by Sisters voters two years ago.
However, OEDD decided that Sisters is not eligible for $806,300 in Community Development Block Grants, targeted for low- to moderate- income users.
An OEDD memorandum to the city noted that "the collection system was sized to serve the entire Urban Growth Boundary (five times the existing population). Because the system designed would be so much larger than what existing users need there is no way to determine the income level of future beneficiaries... there is no way to document that at least 51 percent of the beneficiaries of the assisted activity funded will be low and moderate income users."
However, block grant funds could possibly be used to fund hookups for low to moderate income users, Warren said.
The city is still $3 million short of having the project funded, according to city administrator Barbara Warren. Another $2 million is expected from the federal Rural Utilities Services, but the awarding of those funds is not expected until about the end of February.
If the RUS funds come through, the city still lacks $1 million that was budgeted into the project as "developer contributions." Local developers have offered to pool funds up front to launch the project, but they want credits for future systems development charges (SDCs) in return, Warren noted.
If developers pay their SDCs up front, funds may not be available later to pay for expansion of the sewage treatment system to accommodate the new users who move into the developments.
"If we take that $1 million, we have to give SDC credits for it," Warren said. "If we give SDC credits, we'll be short $1 million to build a second pond."
The city needs that $1 million in order to honor the $39 per EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) per month fee promised in the sewer election. According to the OEDD memo, "without the developer contributions, user rates could exceed $42 per month."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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