Council Puts Sewer Surtax on Ballot, Crest Rd Repair Under Advisement

City Council voted unanimously Monday to put a municipal sewer surtax ordinance on the February ballot. If it passes, a 50 percent surcharge would be applied to the regular sewer tax levy for 10 years.

Deciding to float the measure was pretty much a no-brainer for the council as the city is being required to hurry the rehabilitation of the sewer system by a stipulated order stemming from an EPA lawsuit. The rehab, started in 1995 and now about 60 percent complete, will cost an estimated $10.5 million to finish.

But consideration of the increase had raised some questions about how sewer tax proceeds had been used. The language of the measure, which otherwise borrows extensively from the existing sewer tax code, clarifies that the revenues could be used for work on either sanitary or storm sewers, as City Administrator Geoff Grote said had always been Piedmont's policy.

But Grote admitted Monday that $296,000 appropriated in November 2009 to fix a trench on Crest Road, which was washed out in a rainstorm while the Piedmont Hills utility undergrounding project was under construction, had possibly been misused.

The money had been approved for trench dams and drains, which would be considered part of a storm sewer system and therefore qualify for sewer funds. But Grote told the council that he had just learned that no dams or drains had ultimately been installed on Crest Road.

City engineer John Wanger explained that he had made the call a few days after the appropriation to simply repair the trench by plugging it up with slurry when the planned trench dams and drains proved too costly and cumbersome.

Following that revelation, council decided to consider at a future meeting whether to reimburse the sewer fund for the expenditure with general fund dollars.

CORRECTION: No sand was ultimately used to repair the trench on Crest Road as had been previously reported in this article.