Neighborhood, city officials look for way to install sewer system

By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — Grady Beckham is tired of having a system of septic tanks in his neighborhood instead of a sewer system.

“Every time it rains, everybody’s septic — you can smell it all over the county, I do believe,” he said.

Beckham has lived for 28 years on Ginny Lane in Webb City; his business, Beckham Machine, is on nearby Hall Street. He is one of about 40 property owners in the neighborhood of Fountain Road and Hall Street who aren’t connected to the city’s sewer system.

“It’s way past time we got sewer,” Beckham said. “I’ve been trying to sell the (shop) building for three years, but I’m not going to be able to sell until they get sewer.”

Beckham has spurred city officials to consider creating a Neighborhood Improvement District to fund the installation of sewer service in the area.

A Neighborhood Improvement District, a section of a city or county with defined boundaries, can be created to fund public-use projects through special tax assessments on the property owners. It would have to be approved by at least two-thirds of property owners within the proposed district, according to state law.

Cost estimates

City Administrator Steve Garrett said the project’s estimated cost is more than $343,000, a relatively high total for 40 property owners to pay back. That amount is the sum of about $286,000 for 4,000 feet of sewer main and manholes, and $57,000 for engineering and inspection, according to a report from Garrett.

Garrett said there also would be costs — as yet unknown — for expanding the lift station in the area.

The total cost of the project with interest could be $605,000 under a 20-year bond repayment schedule with annual payments of $30,284, Garrett said.

The cost to individual property owners would be about $757 per year, in addition to regular city sewer fees, he said. The average household in Webb City pays something approaching $28 per month for sewer service.

Under a 15-year repayment schedule, the project could cost $525,000 with interest, and annual payments would amount to $35,000. Property owners would pay $875 annually, Garrett said.

“It’s more than I anticipated, and it’s more than I as a homeowner would want to do,” Garrett told the City Council at its Nov. 2 work session.

No money now

Garrett said the city doesn’t have enough money in its budget to fund the project — at least not this year. Sewer fund expenses are up about $200,000 because of operating costs associated with the Center Creek wastewater treatment plant. To offset those costs, the city recently raised sewer rates by about 36 percent, raising the average monthly sewer bill from about $20.60 to more than $27.

If the city were to fund the project, revenue would have to come from customers’ sewer receipts, Garrett said.

“If everybody that wants sewer expects the city to foot the bill, that means the customers — any additional expenditure would result in an increase for each individual customer,” he said. “We need to try to keep rates low; we need to expand our service areas. We have these problems that compete with each other for a solution. They’re not easy answers.”

At last week’s work session, the City Council mulled whether the city would be able to fund a portion of the cost, and some council members questioned whether the city should do that at all.

Councilman Jerry Fisher said he would favor the city shouldering at least part of the cost of the project, but that funding is the obstacle.

“It’s kind of unusual to make residents pay for the sewer,” he said Monday. “I wish we could (pay some of the cost). I just don’t know about the availability of funds.”

Councilman Don Darby said he favors creating the neighborhood district to install sewer lines, but he is against the city paying for it. There are other property owners with septic tanks living on the outskirts of town who don’t live within the proposed district and therefore wouldn’t be served by the project, he said.

“I have a bad feeling saying, ‘Yes, let’s put some money toward the project,’” Darby said at the work session. “I don’t see where we should do for one and not the other.”

Promise?

The land in question was annexed to Webb City more than 30 years ago. Several property owners have said the annexation came with a promise from city officials that a sewer system would soon be on its way. Garrett said such a promise probably was made at the time.

Executing the project poses few problems, Garrett said, because the lay of the land is such that installing sewer lines would be relatively easy.

Beckham said he installed a new septic tank, which cost about $4,000, six years ago. Beyond cleaning supplies for the tank, the only major cost he has faced is about $300 for a new pump every few years, he said. Upkeep costs are minimal if the tanks work properly, he said.

But the tanks can be problematic. During heavy rains, for example, the system usually becomes overloaded and reduces his and his neighbors’ yards to soggy swamps, Beckham said.

Hall Street resident Ronda Howard said she would like sewer service. But she said it’s unfair for her and her neighbors to pay for it, particularly when houses built in newer Webb City neighborhoods don’t have similar costs.

“Why would we have to pay it all back?” she said. “Those new neighborhoods they put in — they didn’t have to pay it all back. I’d think we would be grandfathered in because we’ve been here (longer than surrounding neighborhoods).”

Howard said her preferred solution is for the city to pay for the installation of a sewer system. She said she’s not necessarily opposed to footing the bill herself if the city would require all homeowners to pay for installation in the future.

“We’re not some strange city trying to get in,” she said. “We’re in the city limits. We pay city taxes. I find it really irritating.”

Fountain Road resident Patricia Pickett said she favors a sewer system for the neighborhood as well. The septic tanks are “so-so, let’s put it that way,” she said.

But whether she and her husband would be willing to pay for it would depend on the amount they would be charged, she said.

“We wouldn’t pay that much,” she said. “If they (the city) want to put it in to put a business out here, I think they should do it themselves.”

Garrett said that if a majority of the residents are against creating a Neighborhood Improvement District to fund sewer service, the project might have to be put on hold.

“I’m somewhat at a loss where we’re to go from here,” he said. “We have to build that kind of expenditure into our budget over a period of years to get that done.”

Beckham said he hopes the city can find a way to install sewer lines without a cost to residents.

“I don’t expect the homeowners to pay anything. (Maybe) $2 or $3 on the bill, but no, we shouldn’t have to pay anything,” he said. “If they (the city) are going to do something, then they need to do it. I don’t think the citizens need to put up any more money to get sewer.”

On the agenda

The City Council is scheduled to discuss the project and whether the city should adopt a policy regarding Neighborhood Improvement Districts at today’s meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Main St.

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