SANDPOINT — The city’s proposed $130 million wastewater treatment bond’s drew limited questions at Monday’s candidate forum; among them, what could happen if the ballot measure fails. 

Only four questions surrounding the bond were asked of city staff and Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm by the public were similar to those asked at the city’s first town hall. The main question centered on the bond initiative failing at the ballot box Nov. 4. 

There were two main options that Grimm said the city is exploring should the bond fail, judicial confirmation or raising rates to fund the project. Grimm said the city plans to move forward with the renovations, regardless of the result of the bond. 

Judicial confirmation would require the city to prove that the expenses are an “ordinary and necessary expense” as defined in the Idaho Constitution. There have been several cases in Idaho where bonds have been confirmed as such, including the Pocatello airport and upgrades to Cascade’s water system. 

"Not our preferred solution, if the voters are saying no way, but it is an option,” Grimm said. “Any given day we could have an upset or an event down there that could not only destroy the environment, it would destroy our neighbors' water downstream and trigger huge fines from the EPA and state.” 

If the city was to raise rates to fund the project, the city estimates rates would rise 600% over the next five years. Public Works Director Holly Ellis said that if the bond passes rates will rise 106% in that same timeframe. 

Grimm said in either case, he believes the federal government would provide assistance because utility rates will rise above 2% of a household’s monthly income.  

"We’re super hopeful of the history of our federal government and the commitment to our infrastructure. Hopefully they’ll step up and provide some grant funding,” Grimm said.  

Grimm said that there is a 40% contingency built into the bond amount, due to the uncertainty of the economy. He said that city staff added that in order to ensure that the city would not have to ask for bond authority for the project again. 

"They also don’t know what we are going to get into. We’ve got a graveyard of old pipes that have been plugged together and dug up and stuck in the ground when something breaks,” Grimm said.  

A resident asked city staff why the overall water utility rate would rise, instead of measuring the sewer usage of individuals and raising the prices accordingly. Ellis said they currently don’t have the technology in place to measure that, and it would cost around $300 per resident to install that meter. 

"That is not something we have explored to date, but it’s absolutely something that we could,” Ellis said. “It’s not very common to have that on a sewer utility; it would be something we have to explore, but not something that we’ve done to date.”  

In response to a question, Grimm said the city has $8 million in reserves to put toward the project. He said that some of that has to be held because the city needs to maintain a certain amount in the account to cover payments if approved. 

Before fielding questions, Grimm gave a brief presentation explaining the need for a bond that will be enough to renovate the entire wastewater treatment plant. He said that much of the plant is beyond its useful life and that the operators of the plant are always monitoring potential broken parts and fixing leaks. 

During the presentation, Grimm said that finding outside funding for the project is the city’s top priority, but he added much of that is dependent on the bond’s approval. Currently, the city has no federal funding and only around $3.5 million in grants from the state of Idaho for the project, according to Grimm. 

"I don’t pretend not to think that this is a huge ask of our citizens because we are asking for your trust,” Grimm said. “We won’t take that debt immediately, we’ll then go to the feds, the state and the governor to fight like mad to get some grant funding for this project.” 

More information on the bond and wastewater treatment plant project can be found at sandpoint-wttp.org.