City, schools seek to resolve SDC dispute

A conflict between the City of Sisters and the Sisters School District over Systems Development Charges (SDCs) may begin moving toward resolution this week. It has been held in abeyance, at least publicly, for several months.

The issue arose in September 2003, when the school district received a city bill for $115,000 for SDCs due when the new middle school was attached to the city sewer line. These charges, assessed against all new developments, are intended to help pay for new city infrastructure such as streets and sewers.

The district questioned the bill and nothing more was heard about it until February of this year when the subject of the unpaid bill came up at a city council workshop. Council members were not happy.

Some back-and-forth ensued but as summer approached, as School Superintendent Ted Thonstad recalled last week, "we sort of had a tacit agreement from the City Council that they would leave that issue alone until after the local option election...which they did."

He was referring to the November 2 election, in which the schools received voter approval for renewal of the local option levy that provides about 10 percent of their annual operating funds. The current levy expires at the end of 2004-05 and the renewal will stretch it for another four years.

In the meantime, without public discussion, both the school board and the council have turned to lawyers for help with their dispute -- Steve Bryant of Redmond for the city and Neil Bryant of Bend for the school district. The two men share last names but are not related. Steve Bryant is 3on a regular retainer for the city and Neil Bryant has done previous work for the school district.

City Manager Eileen Stein said last week that the city has agreed to reduce its original bill to $83,000 based partly on a school district contention that it is not connecting a brand new use to the sewer but instead is transferring a use from one site (the former middle school on the east side of town) to another (the remodeled former high school building on the west side of town).

She emphasized that under normal criteria no credit for an earlier use would be given.

She also said the city is not inclined to make any concessions based on other school district arguments concerning allegedly inappropriate methods of figuring wastewater usage fees, although she said the city may review its methodology for calculating those fees for all large users.

Thonstad said he understood that the two attorneys had been unable to meet but were planning to do so sometime this week.