Complete Story
10/22/2014
Delaware County Facing Sewer-Budget Shortfall
The Columbus Dispatch - October 22, 2014
By
DELAWARE, Ohio — Delaware County’s sewer and wastewater treatment needs are expected to cost a quarter-billion dollars over the next 20 years, money the county can’t fully raise under its current funding system.
So, county officials have begun to explore new options to deal with the projected $61 million deficit, including in some cases doubling the fees developers would pay for future projects requiring sewer lines.
“The old method of building and funding our sewer system doesn’t work anymore,” said Tim Hansley, Delaware County administrator.
The county is considering requiring developers to pay a single $12,000 capacity fee for each housing unit instead of the existing $5,900 fee per home to tap into main sewer lines plus other fees assessed to developers. That would create about $272 million, enough for all projects with additional money for unexpected emergencies, Tiffany Jenkins, Delaware County’s director of environmental services, told county commissioners at a meeting last week.
Jenkins also has drawn up a to-do list, prioritizing projects essential for daily operations and those that are merely aspirations. That list was based on staff analysis, EPA requirements and ease with which new sewer lines could connect with existing lines. Some are already on the books; others are requested or projected by developers.
The old system worked well for decades, Hansley said. Developers paid tap fees and user fees to create neighborhoods in the highly sought-after county.
“Developers would build water and sewer lines to their property and donate (the infrastructure) to the government,” he said.
But developers borrowed to do so. And when the banking crisis hit six years ago, the money dried up and developers sought help, Hansley said.
Residential housing permits in the county of about 185,000 people dropped from 683 in 2007 to 411 in 2008 and 328 in 2009. Last year, 514 permits were issued.
In order to remain competitive with other growth areas in central Ohio, the county agreed to pay for much of the infrastructure.
Jenkins’ projection came after county commissioners requested an estimate of their potential liability. Hansley said the single-fee approach is the best solution they could devise. If approved, it would take effect in July.
“Everybody that pays that fee is a customer of that system, and the continued growth of that system benefits that customer,” he said. “It’s a way to manage that growth that we know is going to continue to happen.”
County Commissioner Ken O’Brien isn’t sold yet.
“It has merit, but it has to be fairly administered so you don’t give money out before you take money in,” O’Brien said. “We need to have an objective plan so there are no winners and losers, and a good working system that promotes clean water and benefits our tax base.”
As with most fees, developers will pass the cost down to homebuilders and, eventually, buyers.
The Building Industry Association of Central Ohio is studying the proposed changes.
“It’s in our best interest that the sewer department has the funds they need ... to be able to allow growth to happen,” said Jim Hilz, BIA executive director.
Growth should continue, but maybe not at the rate that propelled the county to the status of fastest-growing in Ohio, he said.
Bob Yoakam, president of Rockford Homes, which has several projects in the county, said the $12,000 rate seems high.
“It would be by far the most-expensive tap fee that you would find anywhere in central Ohio."
Franklin County’s Jefferson Township and Columbus charge about $3,000. The rate in the city of Delaware, which has its own sewer district, is $5,600.
Yoakam’s worried that builders and buyers, facing higher materials costs, will be priced out of the market.
“We’re not trying to gouge people,” Hansley said. “We’re trying to find funding that allows us to continue serving this fast-growing county.”
Finances have not been helped by a vacant wastewater-treatment plant the county purchased a year ago for about $14 million.
The Lower Scioto Water Reclamation Facility built five years ago off Dublin Road in Concord Township was to handle wastewater from subdivisions that were never built. The plant has been a financial drain on the county and a separate government body that oversaw it. The county originally had invested about $20 million in the facility.
The county continues to spend about $100,000 annually to safeguard the facility in hopes that upgrades to nearby subdivisions will create demand to open the plant, Hansley said.
