News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
It is a "squeaker," Mayor Steve Wilson admits, but it looks like the Sisters sewer project can be completed on budget, with the promised monthly fee.
The city needs approximately $9,911,897 to finish the downtown core and residential areas -- Phase I, II and III of the project, according to engineer Dick Nored of HGE, Inc.
Nored told the Sisters City Council on Thursday, February 22, that, assuming the city receives expected connection fees, there will be $10,036,460 available to complete those phases.
Those connection fees include $250,000 in contributions from such large developments as Pine Meadow Ranch and The Pines of Sisters and fees from businesses and residences now hooking up to the system.
They do not count fees from the U.S. Forest Service, which are still being negotiated (see story this page).
The city will need $400,000 from more connection fees before work on Phase IV, the Sisters Industrial Park, can begin.
"We can't do the industrial park until we get some revenues coming in," Nored said. However, he hopes the city will "be able to do Phase IV before the year is out."
Costs for the initial phases came in higher than the city had hoped.
"The fact that the bids came in high sucked all our breathing room away," Wilson said.
However, Nored noted that the city has been able to save some money here and there on the project, shortening lines, eliminating manholes and avoiding extensive excavation of rock.
Since the sewer contractors are paid on a unit price basis -- so much per foot for laying line; so much per yard for excavating rock, etc. -- any work that can be avoided saves the city money.
According to Nored, that helped the city dodge going over budget when a new line had to be added along Hood Avenue to pick up businesses that had been inadvertently left out of the system.
That new line cost about $75,000, Nored said, but savings elsewhere compensated for that expense. For example, Nored said, the city had budgeted for 2,000 yards of rock excavation north of Cascade Avenue and only had to pay for 600 yards of work.
Nored noted that some lines on Adams Street will have to be dug up and laid anew due to a 1-1/4-inch vertical deflection off of grade. That work won't cost the city, however.
The city is counting on continued growth to make good on the promise of a $39 per month, per equivalent dwelling units (EDU) charge.
Nored noted that the city has fewer EDUs coming on to the system than anticipated. There are currently approximately 1,040 EDUs in the system; for a $39/month/EDU charge, there should be 1,245.
The councilors agreed that they are committed to the $39 rate; the question is how long the city would have to subsidize the rate if usage falls short -- and where the money would come from.
According to Nored, if the financial analysis holds, "the city should have at least $185,738 remaining from connection fees, plus remaining contingencies. If this is true, (the) city could subsidize rates for approximately two years to maintain $39 rates if the city actually started with 1,040 users."
Growth should reduce the need for subsidy.
Perhaps a more immediate concern for many is the condition of Sisters' streets, which Nored and others admit are pretty rough.
Nored noted that construction crews are diligently backfilling and patching ditches and holes, but much of the fill floats out due to snowmelt and rain.
Paving is, of course, on hold until spring.
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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