No easy answers on sewer plant funds

by Nathan Arneal
Published 5/28/25

The city of North Bend continues to brace for the challenges it faces in funding a new $10 million wastewater treatment plant that is necessary to replace the current 58-year-old sewer plant that has fallen out of EPA compliance.

As reported in a May 14 Eagle story, earlier this month North Bend was informed it could not use sales tax to pay off its State Revolving Fund loan. Money for the payments would have to come from user fees. This came as a surprise as the last time the city had an SRF loan, it was entirely paid off using sales tax money.

North Bend was also informed that annual payments on the project would total $428,000, made in two semiannual payments.

Since that time, after city clerk Theresa Busse made an appeal, the city was told it could fund up to 50% of the project with sales tax, leaving a payment of $214,000 per year to come from user fees.

The city also inquired about extending the loan from 30 to 40 years to reduce payments, but it was told that 30 years was the maximum term it could get.

At the May 20 North Bend City Council meeting, Busse and mayor Rod Scott said they inquired about just doing Phase I of the project and postponing the construction of the new treatment plant and lagoon.

Phase I consists of repairs to the existing sewage infrastructure like slip lining water mains to seal up cracks and repairing lift stations, engineering fees and buying the land for the future lagoon. The price tag on Phase I is about $2 million, money the city council already approved for work it has already signed contracts for.

The city was told if the lagoon wasn’t part of the project, then it would not be eligible for the loan, leaving North Bend unable to pay fees it is already committed to.

“We can’t borrow money unless we move forward on this project,” Busse said. “That means we all have to suck it up and figure out how everybody is going to pay for their water and sewer bills. We have no choice.”

Scott was disappointed the project could not be broken into smaller parts.

“They’re pushing us right into it,” he said. “We thought if we did Phase I we’d get by with that and make that payment for a while, but no, no.”

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