Sewer assessment at tax time stinks, residents say

Hayden Lake patrons to pay $3,820 for lift station, treatment upgrades

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

HAYDEN LAKE — Taxes aren't the only financial obligation residents in the Hayden Lake Recreation Water and Sewer District are looking at with an April 15 deadline.

They are also wrestling whether to pay $3,820 for a local improvement district to fund sewer upgrades in full by that date with no interest or whether to go on a 20-year annual payment plan with 3 interest in the first 10 years and 2 percent in the second 10.

"I understand infrastructure needs to be taken care of if it's a mess," said Christine Bastedo, a resident in the district that includes about 2,600 people includes the City of Hayden Lake, Hayden View Estates, Woodland Heights and other areas south of Lancaster Road.

"But the amount was shocking. This is a lot of money that affects a lot of people. April 15 is not a good time for a lot of people."

Lynn Hagman, the sewer and water district's administrator, admits the timing of the assessment to fund sewer upgrades stinks with it being tax season.

"But, in an LID, there are timeframes that we have to go by," she said. "When construction is completed, you have to move forward in closing out the LID. The board didn't like the timing more than anybody else."

The assessment is based on each residential unit, or any lot that has access to sewer service.

The first payment for residents going on the 20-year plan would be on April 1, 2018. The annual payment would be $257 per year for the first 10 years and $233 per year for the second 10, Hagman said. Once residents go on the payment plan, it becomes a lien on the property.

The LID will raise $10 million to fund $6.5 million in improvements at the treatment plant that were mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the Spokane River and $3.5 million for upgrades at the district's 14 lift stations.

Agencies that discharge treated wastewater to the river, including the Hayden Area Regional Sewer Board (HARSB), Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, face meeting stricter standards by 2023 and are generating income to fund the upgrades through rate hikes or the LID.

HARSB treats wastewater from the Hayden Lake water and sewer district before it goes to the river. The district's share of the HARSB treatment cost is 24 percent, City of Hayden 75 percent and the Coeur d'Alene Airport 1 percent.

Ken Windram of HARSB said the board's role is to take steps to meet EPA mandates on its treatment process.

"When you flush, think of us," he said.

Hagman said some pumps at the lift stations were more than 30 years old, lining was rusted and corroded and electrical panels were not up to code.

"Those were some of the issues we dealt with," Hagman said.

Hagman said the LID was approved more than two years, the upgrades have been completed and the assessment on residents was recently determined to pay off an Idaho Department of Environmental Quality loan that was issued at 2 percent interest and paid for the work up front.

She said the total cost of the projects came in about $400,000 less than originally anticipated. The district struck a deal with the Hayden Lake Country Club to move a lift station away from the lake because of an environmental concern. It also took on landscaping around the lift stations in house instead of running that through the LID.

"We did our best to save where we could," Hagman said.

She said the district sent newsletters to patrons to keep them apprised of the LID and an engineer was available to ask questions before the assessment was approved after last month's public hearing. However, she said the district continues to field questions on topics ranging from the payment plan to why the upgrades were needed.

"Two years is a long time for construction, so people can forget and new people move into the district," Hagman said. "We filed a letter at the county so that new homeowners are notified about the LID when the title reports are pulled. We did the best we could to keep it out there as a reminder that this assessment was coming."

But Bastedo said the assessment is still a tough pill to swallow, especially for residents who own multiple lots.

"We're not talking about a small amount of money," she said, adding that she wonders if all of upgrades were necessary and flushed out. "This can happen to anyone at any time. Sometimes I wonder if we're just sheep being led."

For more information on the LID, call 772-4379.