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Nehalem council approves update to water system development charges, adds SCADA to improvements list
Summary
The Nehalem City Council on April 14 approved an amendment to the city's water System Development Charge (SDC) schedule that lists the SCADA monitoring system among reimbursable improvements and raises the per-EDU fee to reflect recent valuations and an annual indexing recommendation.
Nehalem ' The Nehalem City Council voted 4-0 April 14 to approve a System Development Charge amendment that explicitly lists the city's SCADA monitoring system among infrastructure improvements and sets the groundwork for an adjusted per-connection fee to be adopted by resolution at the next meeting.
Curt McCleod of Curran-McLeod, Inc., presented the SDC update, saying the firm inventoried the city's water system and determined a current regional-benefit asset value of about $11,550,000 and identified roughly $2,025,000 in capital improvements needed to serve buildout. "We recommend increasing the SDC from $3,235 per EDU to $6,678 per EDU," McCleod said, and also recommended indexing the charge annually to the Construction Cost Index so the city avoids large infrequent increases.
Council and staff discussed the SCADA monitoring system's treatment in the asset summary; McCleod noted the monitoring system shows $30,000 in the reimbursement summary and that a new SCADA upgrade could cost about $50,000, which he estimated could add roughly $700 per new connection.
Council President Hilary Howell moved to approve the amendment that lists the SCADA system in the improvement list; Councilor Doug Larzelier seconded and the motion passed unanimously (Yes: Howell, Cram, Larzelier, Quintana). Mayor Phil Chick said the council will adopt the new adjusted rate by resolution at the next meeting.
Why it matters: raising the SDC reallocates a larger share of system expansion costs to new development rather than existing ratepayers and, by indexing annually, reduces the need for infrequent large increases. The council's approval begins the administrative process that will set the specific rate by resolution at the next meeting.
What comes next: the council indicated it will adopt the adjusted SDC rate by resolution at a subsequent meeting; staff and the consultant will finalize the fee schedule and the annual-indexing mechanism.
