TRAVERSE CITY -- Grand Traverse County may consider buying half of its own septage treatment plant to avoid a politically troublesome $45 special assessment on county septic tank owners.
County Administrator Dennis Aloia raised the concept this week. Aloia favors a special assessment to bail the plant out of an estimated $2.5 million deficit over the next five years, but said there may be too much political opposition.
"If you try to do a special assessment, we'll have a civil war in the townships," said county board Chairman Dick Thomas. "I don't know if Dennis' idea will work ... but I'm opposed to charging any more for treatment and doing a special assessment."
The plant's long-term financial problems turned immediate when CMS Energy announced that on April 1 it will stop shipping groundwater leachate from Bay Harbor Resort in Petoskey to the septage plant. The decision left a $300,000 hole in this year's budget and likely twice that in 2011.
Aloia proposes the county determine how much money it will take to cover septage plant bond payment shortages for the next five to 10 years. The townships of Garfield, East Bay, Acme, Peninsula and Elmwood each would pay an amount based on their percentage of the entire number of septic tanks in Grand Traverse County and in Elmwood, which is in Leelanau County.
About 50 percent of county septic tanks fall within the remaining eight townships. The county would pay that share. Those eight townships would have the option to buy into plant ownership.
"When we all put money into it, then everybody's involved and there's no more finger-pointing. We're all partners in it," Aloia said.
Aloia said he doesn't expect any of the eight townships to buy in but wants to offer that opportunity. His plan also would eliminate legal prohibitions that prevent local governments from the ability to capture excess revenue.
The plan isn't perfect, Aloia said, and requires refinement and financial details, but is better than the county's past practice of bailing out the plant with short-term loans.
"If we make another loan, then make another loan, what's the motivation to improve the situation ... to make the plant more viable?" he said.
Thomas expects some county and township officials to support Aloia's plan, though it likely won't be unanimous.
County Commissioner Ross Richardson opposes the county spending heavily from its general fund to support the plant, particularly when many local residents pay for sewer through a wastewater treatment plant in Traverse City.
"The 17,000 to 18,000 home and business owners who pay for sewer processing shouldn't also have to pay for a septage plant," Richardson said. "Users should pay. The $45 special assessment isn't a perfect answer, but it's a start."
