From: Susan Hansen
Sent: Wed Sep 20 14:40:35 2017
To: jthompson@cityofmolalla.com; kswigart@cityofmolalla.com; dpalumbo@cityofmolalla.com; eklein@cityofmolalla.com; gboreth@cityofmolalla.com; lchildress@cityofmolalla.com; cdragowsky@cityofmolalla.com
Cc: jbaker@pamplinmedia.com; DONNELLY Jennifer; YELTON-BRAM Tiffany; DECONCINI Nina; HOWARD Gordon; rdavis@oregonian.com
Subject: Street Utility Fee Town Hall
Importance: Normal
Dear City of Molalla elected officials,
While it is wonderful to have a Town Hall about the potential to dun rate payers for needed street repairs of your neglected roads, reading the powerpoint I find no mention of the coming need to raise other utility rates in Molalla:
http://www.cityofmolalla.com/publicworks/page/street-maintenance-utility-fee-town-hall-meeting
It has already been noted that at least a 6% hike on sewer rates alone will be necessary in coming years because Molalla has woefully failed to keep up with the need to upgrade sewer infrastructure. My guess is that wastewater infrastructure improvements will be far more costly to your rate payers once Dyer does its $180,000+ assessment of your current wastewater operation. Molalla is just about constantly in violation of the wastewater permit and will face more stringent rules when it becomes a major facility in the next permit in a couple of years.
My point is, if you are going to present infrastructure costs and needs tonight, the only honest and ethical thing to do would be to acknowledge to your rate payers the potential for skyrocketing sewer rates in the near future. Why are you not having a Town Hall about ALL the infrastructure problems?
I interviewed Dyer in the spring and the owner of that firm said that in the work they had done to upgrade/ replace failing wastewater systems, rates had gone up to $70- 105 a month, even in tiny cities like Drain. Do you really plan to present street maintenance fees in advance of telling your rate payers what the real future costs of complying with the Clean Water Act will be? That seems less than honest.
Let me know if I missed anything in this proposed presentation on roads that would disclose the need to raise more rates for vital utilities, esp. for your failing, violation prone wastewater infrastructure. Molalla's residents are not, per the admission of your past mayor Rogge, able to absorb endless rate and tax increases without putting their home ownership in jeopardy.
Susan Hansen
Bear Creek Recovery