Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle has joined a national effort to reduce the amount of money cities must pay to comply with federally mandated sewer overhauls in their communities.
Suttle’s office announced Monday that he has been appointed to the Mayors Water Council, a committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. About 25 mayors from around the country are members, including Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.
“I am excited about this opportunity to work with mayors from around our nation seeking relief for local ratepayers from the costly unfunded federal mandate,” Suttle said in a statement.
Cities now have 15 years to bring sewers into compliance with federal clean water regulations.
Omaha is on a schedule to overhaul its sewer system by 2024.
The project, which has a price tag estimated at $1.7 billion, calls for major sewer separation projects, two new treatment facilities and a 5.4-mile tunnel along the Missouri River.
Sewer fees are being increased to pay off the bonds to finance the project. Those fees, included on the Metropolitan Utilities District bill, could cost metro area households nearly $38 a month by 2014 and $50 a month by 2017. The average household now pays about $15 a month in sewer fees.
Omaha received $7.5 million in federal stimulus money to put toward the sewer overhaul. However, all of that money, with the exception of a $1.9 million grant, came in the form of low-interest loans that the city must repay, said Marty Grate, the city’s environmental services manager.
The city also received a $7.5 million state loan to renovate and expand its wastewater treatment plant.
The Mayors Water Council proposes that federal and local governments split the cost of sewer overhaul projects. The group plans to meet with officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice. Suttle will participate in those talks, his office said.
A partnership between the local government and the federal government is needed “to keep this program affordable for our local ratepayers,” he said.
Congress has not appropriated funding for cities facing a federal mandate to update their sewer systems, said Lisa Ellis, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb.
However, she said, Terry and Suttle would “continue to work together to look at a variety of different funding options.”
Contact the writer:
444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
