Sammamish to study taking over water district
November 10, 2010
By Caleb Heeringa
New: Nov. 10, 10:29 a.m.
Sammamish residents pay taxes that fund a team of 24 full-time and 21 seasonal public works employees that clean storm drains to prevent flooding and design and repair roads, bike lanes and sidewalks.
Through their water bill, a majority of those residents also pay for 51 water and sewer employees that maintain hundreds of miles of pipe and an assortment of pumps and wells responsible for water coming out of faucets and going down toilets smoothly.
Could one group do both jobs just as well or better for the same price or less?
That’s the question that Sammamish city staff will be contemplating as they sit down with commissioners and staff from Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District early next year.
“If you don’t look into it, you’ll never know,” City Manager Ben Yazici said. “We’re both here to provide the public a service.”
The issue is as old as Sammamish and has been in the back of minds of city staff and City Council members for years. The city commissioned a study on the issue in 2000, just after incorporation, but elected to hold off on the issue, instead focusing on the bevy of road and park infrastructure projects ahead of them.
With the city now entering its second decade and the city of Issaquah interested in possibly annexing their portion of the district, it’s come to the forefront again.
But water and sewer officials, some of whose jobs would be in question in the event of a city takeover, caution that water and sewer systems are complex and best not left in the politically influenced hands of cities, who invariably institute taxes and use the utility as cash cows.
“We’re focused on what we do,” retiring general manager Ron Little said. “City Council members have so many other things on their plate – homelessness, keeping up the streets. It’s hard for them to be up to speed on water and sewer issues.”
Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer has an annual budget of more than $18 million and serves more than 16,000 water customers in Sammamish, northern Issaquah and a chunk of unincorporated King County north of Redmond-Fall City Road. Northeast Sammamish Water and Sewer District serves several thousand residents in and around the Sahalee area.
Sammamish Plateau’s combined water and sewer rates are about $10 more than the city of Redmond but $4 less than the city of Issaquah.
Scott Jonas, the district’s operations manager, said a takeover by Sammamish might mean significant capital investments to split up a system involving an intricate set of pumps and mains that bring fresh water from northern Issaquah up to the top of the plateau and route wastewater down.
The district’s three largest wells are in Issaquah and provide half the district’s water. With water rights tied directly to specific wells, Jonas said, Sammamish might have to pay Issaquah for the water that used to be its own.
“Getting that water from that specific zone up to the plateau is a function of our holistic system,” Jonas said. “The system is not designed around political boundaries.”
The city and the district also disagree on whether the city has the authority to take over the district in the first place. While state law states that a city that contains 60 percent of a water district can assume that district by a simple vote of the City Council, Tom Agnew, past president of the Washington Association of Water and Sewer Districts, said that only applies to cities that already have a water and sewer function. Sammamish would have to hold a public vote, he said, or they might face a legal battle.
Agnew said the city of Bellevue and the Coal Creek Utility District spent close to $1 million on lawyers when the city tried to take over the ratepayers in its jurisdiction in 2003.
“That money is coming straight from the taxpayers,” he said.
Both sides are cordial at this point, pointing out examples of the healthy working relationship between the entities. Sammamish administrative services director Mike Sauerwein said the district has a snowplow that they allow the city to use during heavy snow storms. They sometimes coordinate on large projects, with the district laying in a water main at the same time the city has a roadway torn up for replacement.
But with Sammamish’s older neighbors to the north and south running water and sewer themselves, and a utility tax often thrown around as a solution to the city’s over-reliance on property taxes, the City Council is interested in studying a takeover of the water district. The city cannot currently tax water district customers, since the district is legally its own independent government entity.
“I support the idea of starting to look at this,” councilman Mark Cross said at a Sept. 20 meeting. “It ties into our discussions of efficiency in government and it ties into … the option of a utility tax as a second leg under (the city budget) – not to generate new income but to balance our reliance on property taxes.”
At the same meeting, Nancy Whitten and Michele Petitti said they supported studying the matter but said they were hesitant to dive into a potentially controversial process until the council handled other hot-button issues on its plate – namely the city’s long-term relationship with Eastside Fire & Rescue and the street barricades around town.
Councilman Tom Odell said he was interested in seeing whether taking in water and sewer could lead to efficiencies, such as reducing administrative positions and other overhead.
“It may or may not be the right thing to do,” Odell said. “You do have to believe there might be some synergies there. Whether or not they justify taking over the district remains to be seen.”
Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.
Other Stories of Interest: Northeast Sammamish Water and Sewer, Sammamish Government, Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer
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