Modesto City Council to vote on less-than-expected sewer rate increase

By ADAM ASHTON
aashton@modbee.com

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Residential sewer bills in Modesto are on course to increase by $5.57 a month July 1 as part of a plan to pay for a major upgrade to Modesto's waste-water treatment system.

The proposed rate hike is less expensive than what the city expected a year ago when it adopted the first of five planned increases from 2007 to 2011.

Since then, Modesto's growth rate slowed and the city's new state waste-water discharge permit changed, obliging Modesto to alter its original construction plans.

The city intends to speed up the project's second phase -- adding a process that would filter the city's waste-water to a higher level known as "tertiary treatment" -- but eliminate an intermediate step toward that goal and defer several other projects for a few years.

"This is new information," City Councilman Brad Hawn said. "If we had that information when we made the decision, we would have reduced the rates then."

Hawn and his colleagues are scheduled to vote on the new rates Tuesday night.

A tougher-than-expected standard for the concentration of ammonia in the city's effluent prompted Modesto to accelerate its plans for the tertiary treatment, aiming to get the upgrade online by 2013 instead of 2016.

If passed, the rate increase will bring Modesto's residential sewer charges to $20.78 a month, a 30 percent increase from the current fee.

Modesto is forgoing about $4 million this year by adopting a 30 percent increase instead of the previously planned 45 percent hike.

However, Modesto plans to catch up over the next four years. By July 2011, residential sewer bills are scheduled to hit $35.72.

Industrial manufacturers who pay the city's most expensive sewer bills were pleased with the city's intention to smooth the rate increases over time. Their collective sewer bills stand to increase from $5.4 million last year to $14.2 million in 2012.

"It's a huge relief to the companies I represent," said Jan Marie Ennenga, executive director of the Manufacturers Council of the Central Valley.

Her organization continues to work with the city to get the state's permission to apply more waste water to pastureland Modesto owns near its Jennings Road sewer treatment plant. That could limit the cost of the city's sewer system improvements by decreasing the amount of new capacity Modesto needs.

Modesto's overall sewer system upgrade was expected to cost $420 million when the council adopted the rate increase plan last year.

The City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.