Sean C. Morgan
In response to a proposal from the Sweet Home School District to waive water fees for irrigating its fields, Sweet Home city staff will explore some ideas and report back to the City Council’s Administration, Finance and Property Committee.
District Supt. Tom Yahraes and Business Manager Kevin Strong presented the request during the committee’s meeting Friday, Feb. 15.
Yahraes outlined the large number of community events and activities that use the district’s facilities, many of them on the fields in question. Activities include, for example, the Oregon Jamboree, sports, car shows and police and wildland fire training. Most recently, the district hosted the Capitol Christmas tree celebration.
Members of the community use the district’s fields and facilities as if it were additional park space and green spaces.
Yahraes said the district would like to work with the city to increase access and make its grounds even better, but following last year’s water rate hikes, district officials were given pause.
Strong said the district’s water bills grew by 45 percent, and the bill for the south field at Sweet Home High School reached $17,000 for one month last summer.
“It seems like what you’re doing is charging a huge variable cost on a few large users,” Strong said of the increase.
City Councilor Dave Trask said that the council increased the rate with the idea “that the people who use the most water pay the most.”
The bulk water rate used by the district was $5.21 per 100 cubic feet, City Finance Director Brandon Neish said. While the residential rate increased last year to $7.86 per 100 cubic feet, up from $6.50 per 100 cubic feet, the bulk water rate increased to $7.54 per 100 cubic feet, which is approximately 748 gallons.
For about the last two decades, the city has charged a much higher rate for residential customers compared to commercial, industrial and bulk water users, to subsidize the cost of providing 400 cubic feet per month to every residential account at the base charge for service. The City Council approved that subsidy as a way to help low-income customers.
Last year, the City Council decreased the amount provided for the base charge from 400 cubic feet to 300 cubic feet per month.
Neish said that the district is one of two or three bulk water users. It is not the largest of those.
“How can we kind of work together to make the community a better place?” Strong said. “How can we best use our fields to benefit Sweet Home, not just our PE classes or after-school sports?”
He would like to sit down with the city and find win-wins, Strong said. “We have property. We want to see how it’s best used for Sweet Home.”
The community cannot create new districts, like an aquatics district or a parks and recreation district, Strong said, without negatively impacting police and library funding thanks to an effect of property tax law called compression, which limits the revenue government agencies can levy.
In lieu of creating an aquatics district to cover the cost of operating the swimming pool at the high school several years ago, the district sought and passed a local option levy to avoid impacting police levy revenues, Strong said. With the property tax limitations, “it does make sense for the city and School District to work together as much as possible.”
The district keeps its facilities open to the public already, he said, noting that the district’s insurance company would prefer the district close Husky Field and the track to mitigate thefts and vandalism.
The east end of Sweet Home doesn’t have any city parks, he said. That’s why, at Foster Elementary, “it would be great to take the next step and irrigate that (the ball fields).”
The School District doesn’t really use that space, Strong said, but it makes a great place for people on that end of town to go.
“It’s space the district has. This is about more than just water.”
It’s about working together, Strong said. He proposed that the district and city work together to create more recreation opportunities in Sweet Home, noting that the city has no current plans to expand parks in the Foster area.
In exchange, he asked that the city not charge the city’s commodity charge for bulk water on its fields. The district would continue to pay the base charge and for water use in its other buildings.
Looking at the baseball, football and practice fields, Neish estimated that would amount to $76,000 for the past 12 months.
“I’m not sure we should set a precedent,” Trask said. Additionally, Sweet Home ratepayers would have to cover the difference, while residents living outside the city limits would not have to pay anything at all for watering the district’s fields.
“To me, this seems unfair,” Trask said. “Somebody’s going to pay for the water.”
“It’s getting your milk for free,” said Councilor James Goble. “Everybody else has to feed the cow.”
At the same time, “I’m not against anything you’re trying to do,” Trask said. “I love what’s going on in the district, but it’s out of my comfort zone. We have enough problems with our water rates as it is.”
City Manager Ray Towry said that cooperation among school districts and cities is common. Sweet Home is already doing it, and the two organizations are looking for more ways to do it.
For example, they might purchase an excavator, something neither agency needs regularly but both can and do use at times.
Towry told the committee that the district is offering to improve access and quality on its grounds, making investments in service that the city isn’t making, noting that new playground equipment costs $100,000.
“I recognize this is outside of the box for Sweet Home,” he said. “I would encourage us to continue thinking outside of the box.”
Neither the committee nor the City Council need to accept the pitch, he said. The district is attempting to negotiate with the city. He asked whether there are things the city might be interested in, in exchange for waiving water fees.
He bets there are a lot of things where the city could work with the district in a trade-off for the water, Towry said. The city could choose not to waive the water fees, but it could cut a check from a different fund in exchange for improvements – and avoid burdening the ratepayers.
Councilor Diane Gerson said that Sweet Home needs a park on the east end of town, but “I pay my water bill at $250 per month. It ticks me off.”
It’s part of the cost of living where she does, Gerson said. Her neighborhood has a housing association that requires residents to maintain green lawns.
She asked whether the city could count on a new park there if it waived the fees.
Towry said the district could conceivably ask what it gets in return for $76,000.
District officials are willing to sit down, find a fair exchange and provide better services to the community, Towry said. City staff will continue discussions and involve the Park and Tree Committee.
The committee members, Goble, Gerson and Trask, said they were willing to continue the discussion.
The Administration, Finance and Property Committee reviews matters referred to it by the City Council or by staff. It can choose to send recommendations to the full City Council for its consideration.
In other business, the committee recommended that the council increase the city manager’s severance package from three months to three months plus one month for each year of service. A list of nine nearby cities and similarly-sized cities showed that most provide six months severance packages.
Towry said that city managers are in a high-risk position. A council can change in a single election and dismiss city managers without cause, so severance packages tend to be part of their contracts, allowing them time to look for work.