A landowner’s request to hook up water and sewer on Mathias Avenue has shined a spotlight on a safety lapse the borough had overlooked, and brought concerns to assembly members about the ethics and onus of utility connection fees within Haines’ town site.
Currently, if a homeowner wants municipal water, they have to pay to hook into a water main, or to extend the lines to their property. Also, if a homeowner is within 200 feet of a line, borough code requires them to hook up, and to share the cost of the line extension with the neighbor that originally brought the line past their property. In new requests for utilities, assembly members are re-evaluating how to charge for hookups.
In August, new Haines resident Yuri Baykov requested borough approval to build a house on Mathias Avenue. The site is 200 feet beyond the main water line on his street, which is necessary for water and sewer hookup. To extend the line to his property, the borough would ordinarily charge Baykov about $20,000, or $100 per foot.
However, Baykov’s request caused borough staff to take a closer look at the water main on Mathias Avenue, and to discover two safety concerns that violate code; the water main is undersized as is the one fire hydrant at the intersection with Young Road.
As a result, staff constructed a two-phase safety and service upgrade plan they brought to the Government Affairs and Services (GAS) Committee on Oct. 2.
The Haines Borough proposed a deal with Baykov that would halve his expense and simultaneously allow for a water main upgrade and installation of a fire hydrant on Mathias. The borough would cover the estimated $56,000, with an expected $20,000 to be recouped—partially by Baykov and partially by other property owners that connect to the line in the future.
As it stands, borough code requires that any homeowner extending a water main to their home must incur the cost fully, to be subdivided with later reimbursements funded by future neighbors who hook up in the next 20 years. A property owner can apply for a refund for part of the cost of a water main from the borough.
A hookup fee without an extension usually costs between $1,500-$2,000 depending on the job, said borough director of public facilities, Brad Ryan. This point raised questions at the GAS committee meeting, as members Heather Lende and Brenda Josephson disagreed with a forced $10,000 water line on a homeowner that doesn’t want the service. They agreed that since the borough has identified a public safety concern, the upgrade is the responsibility of the borough.
“We require people to sign up if they’re within a certain distance, but then they have to pay for it if they’re within a certain distance… and then in this case they’re told ‘10 grand for you to hook up,’” Lende said. “I mean, it just makes people furious and it makes them not like government, and it would make me furious.”
In this case, the forced water line would be on Baykov’s neighbors, Norm and Suzanne Smith, should they decide to develop their plot of land.
The Smiths have owned the empty lot across from Baykov’s property for nearly 10 years, but couldn’t connect water and sewer without incurring a $20,000 extension fee. Now that they have the option to pay half of that, they aren’t interested. The Smiths said they have been unable to develop or sell their property, and face increasing assessment values year by year despite having no water hookup. The borough installed a sewer line to their property about three years ago without extra extension fees, and Smith said he believes they should do the same with the water main.
“We will not be participating in a [$20,000] water main extension on Mathias. We are already (excuse the pun) “underwater” with that lot with interest paid on the loan and taxes over the last nine years,” Smith wrote in an email to borough manager Debra Schnabel on Aug. 14.
The committee recommended that general fund money be allocated to cover the $56,000 water main upgrade.
Borough finance director Jila Stuart said it’s unfair to allocate taxpayer money to a service a project that will only benefit Mathias residents. “It’s not just unfair, it’s illegal,” she said, as charter dictates general fund money can’t be used to subsidize enterprise funds like the water and sewer departments. “It’s not appropriate to use public funds to increase the property value of a few property owners.”
Stuart proposed that if the borough decides to fund the upgrade, they can do so by making a plan for expanding water and sewer that will impact more people. She said that, while general funds couldn’t be used, Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funds, proceeds from the sale of borough lands, or a State Department of Environmental Conservation loans could be used. Ryan said that the proposed $36,000 expense to the borough could be funded by the water fund or CIP.
Schnabel said there are some things that a community has to do together, and water and sewer systems are among them. She said it’s understandable if a homeowner decides not to extend a main for water and sewer if they have to incur the full cost. “So they’re not going to buy into the system, they’re not going to buy that lot, they’re not going to build that house, that neighborhood stays the way it is, and that’s ok I guess but I think that how, then, do you want your community to grow?” she asked. As a result, Schnabel said, a community would have fewer people paying higher prices to maintain the system.
Lende also said she had a problem with the system barring poor people who pay equal taxes from not having access to water and sewer without incurring a lofty extension fee.
“Is it right to say we’ll extend sewer and water as long as people who can afford it can pay for it, but the people who can’t don’t get it?” Lende posed.
In May of 2016, the borough paid to extend a water main along Bear Trails Lane. A developer wanted to extend the main two lots further down the road, and provided the $15,000 it would have cost him regardless toward a borough upgrade project. The borough subsidized the additional $28,000 to increase the main diameter, add three valve clusters, a fire hydrant, and an additional service hookup.
In Skagway and Petersburg, code does not dictate that homes within 200 feet of a water main to hook up. Wrangell requires the hookup within 200 feet.
The Mathias water main extension will be further discussed at the Nov. 13 finance committee meeting.