Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

December 12, 2009

Green Lake to voice concerns over tax

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY

INTERLOCHEN -- Ed Earl didn't support construction of the Grand Traverse County septage treatment plant and sees no reason he should pay to fund the problem-riddled facility.

"There were so many mistakes and so many things overlooked, it just gives everyone a bad taste," Earl said.

But the Green Lake Township resident is willing to listen and get his questions answered. He'll be at Interlochen Public Library at 6 p.m. Monday for a presentation by K. Ross Childs, interim manager of the county Department of Public Works.

It's the next to last stop on Childs' tour of township boards to explain a proposal to levy about $43 a year on all septic tank owners in the county to cover ongoing operational deficits at the five-year-old plant. He'll finish up Monday at an Elmwood Township board meeting starting at 7 p.m.

"These meetings have been going very well," Childs recently told the county Board of Public Works. "There hasn't been any real big surprises, sometimes it's gotten a little hot, but otherwise there have been some real good questions."

Green Lake Township Supervisor Paul Biondo watched one of Childs' presentation on public access television.

"Ross (Childs) is so smooth, I want the guy to sell me something, but I don't know if everything he says is totally accurate," Biondo said.

Biondo opposes the septic tank tax, which he said "is not an acceptable option at this point."

The BPW first needs to either trim or justify the proposed $742,000 operating budget for the $7.8 million plant, he said. He also wants a breakdown of all the county's bills for overhead.

The plant's in financial trouble because no one created a business plan before building it, and the BPW still doesn't have a detailed plan, Biondo said. The proposed septic tank tax is based on a spreadsheet and list of financial assumptions agreed upon by a committee.

"You really need to have a business plan to run different scenarios, ... and you take the worst-case scenario and put it in there," Biondo said. "Someone should be analyzing that whole business model because I'm not sure they're using realistic numbers."''

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