Lacey City Council ponders septic to sewer conversion

Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder set the tone for Thursday night’s discussion about the city’s future septic-to-sewer conversion process by saying, “I believe this is the single most important issue to Lacey and our urban growth area that I can possibly think of.”

Now, Lacey officials — along with those in Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County — have to hammer out the details of a regional plan that will move thousands of septic users to sewers and play out over the next 45 to 75 years.

At first glance, it will be an expensive process for the city of Lacey and those who have to hook up to sewer. Preliminary estimates shared at Thursday’s City Council work session showed a potential property owner connection cost of $15,000.

But Lacey officials and council members underscored the importance of taking these steps to protect groundwater and surface water (lakes, rivers and Puget Sound) from failing or leaking septic systems.

“This is about passing it forward to our kids, our grandkids and their kids,” said Scott Egger, the city’s public works director, about the importance of protecting future water quality.

Here’s one scenario that was discussed Thursday night to convert 10,027 septic systems to sewer in Lacey:

▪ Conversion time: 65 years.

▪ Total cost: $145 million.

▪ Possible sewer rate increase: $5.50 per month. That would help pay the city’s cost of investing about $2 million a year in sewer lines.

▪ Availability fee: $55.94 a month. If a property owner on septic chooses not to connect to a new sewer line in the area, they would be subject to this fee, which would help pay the cost of the new sewer line.

Why not just pay the fee and never connect? Egger said there would still be triggering events for a property owner to connect to sewer: a failing system, a significant expansion or remodel of the property or when the property sells.

Lacey officials acknowledged that requiring a new property owner to connect to sewer will require more discussion, but one idea is to allow a grace period of five to 10 years before they would have to connect. Another idea is to seek community development block grants to help low-income individuals.

Lacey City Manager Scott Spence said the proposed sewer rate increase of $5.50 a month is not being taken lightly, because it would represent one of the largest-ever rate increases for the city. One approach is to phase it in over time, he said.

Councilman Jeff Gadman suggested that the city and other jurisdictions need to be flexible with the rollout of the conversion in the event of another recession and a drop in property values.

“We have to be sensitive to that,” he said.

Councilman Lenny Greenstein would like to see the proposed sewer rate increase phased in over time. He pointed out that people don’t need a recession to be underwater on their property — which means the value of the property is worth less than the value of the mortgage.

“If the home doesn’t have the value, they’re not going to spend money on the conversion,” he said.

If Mayor Ryder struck the right tone for the septic-to-sewer conversation, Greenstein summed it up best.

“We have a lot of details to work out,” he said.

Here are the next steps in the process: A public education campaign will take place this year and in 2017; local codes and plans will be updated in 2017 and 2018; and the first conversions could begin in 2018 or 2019.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 12:27 AM with the headline "Lacey City Council ponders septic to sewer conversion."