When South Salt Lake Council announced recently that it was time to pay the piper, Mayor Jim Davis' monthly sewer rate at his personal residence increased by nearly 13 times - from a $4 flat monthly fee to $50.70 per month.
Davis and other water users will see whopping increases for the next eight to 14 years - until the city has paid off the debt it incurred when building the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility.The largest of its kind in the United States, the facility was built in 1989 to replace five antiquated treatment plants - including South Salt Lake's - that didn't meet water quality standards established in the 1972 federal Clean Water Act.
The feds wanted cities to combine sewer districts whenever feasible. So Murray and South Salt Lake and the improvement districts of Granger/Hunter, Taylorsville/Bennion, Kearns, Cottonwood and Salt Lake City Suburban No. 1 joined to build Central Valley.
It sounded good on paper - especially since the federal government had promised to fund 75 percent of the project. But Congress had other ideas. The feds ended up paying slightly more than half of the $130 million project cost.
Citizens of the communities served by the plant were forced to pick up the remaining costs.
South Salt Lake decided to defer asking users to help pay for Central Valley until a later date.
"Until now, the city has been footing the bill through other revenue sources to pay for the capital costs of building Central Valley," said D'Arcy Dixon, city analyst. "They now have got to go back and charge the users."
More than 150 business owners and residents attended this week's City Council meeting to learn how they'd be billed.
The council had two options: First, to charge a fixed rate per month for all sewer connections.
According to Dixon, the rate for 1991-92 would be $19 per month, plus an excess rate of $2.40 per 1,000 gallons over 8,000 gallons per month.
And the second alternative: Charge each sewer connection based on usage.
Dixon said the winter monthly average would be $2.60 per 1,000 gallons of water.
The council allowed citizens to vote, and the second alternative won by a landslide.
That means that one-person households will pay $3.90 to $5 a month, depending on their conservation practices. But Davis, father of seven children, will be paying big bucks for water.
"It sounds like a large increase, but South Salt Lake residents haven't had an increase in 12 years," Dixon said. "They have been enjoying this system at very low rate. Now it's time to pay the piper."