By Brenda Erdahl
The cities of Waverly and Montrose, who are in need of a new wastewater treatment facility, have asked to partner with the Annandale-Maple Lake-Howard Lake Wastewater Commission to use its plant south of Maple Lake.
Wastewater Commission Secretary Kelly Hinnenkamp gave an update on the progress of regionalization at the Tuesday, April 2 Maple Lake City Council meeting.
According to Hinnenkamp, the cities of Montrose and Waverly reached out to the commission in January to start the conversation. The Wastewater Commission went into the discussions knowing they were only interested if it did not cost existing users any additional money.
With the help of financial advisors, the Commission came up with a $40 million price tag for the project, which Hinnenkamp said was a bit of a sticker shock. Part of the reason for the high price is it includes a $14 million filtration project that the Commission knew it had to do anyway, she said.
The actual cost is $26 million to add a pipeline from Waverly and Montrose to Howard Lake where it would then be pumped to the plant. The price also includes any necessary upgrades needed at the plant to take the additional wastewater flow.
In putting together a financial rate projection for Waverly and Montrose, Hinnenkamp said the Commission used the same methodology as it did when Howard Lake came on board. They took their assets, divided them by their current users and came up with a per user amount. By multiplying that by the 2,200 users in Montrose and Waverly they came up with a buy in amount of approximately, $9.6 million.
“That is what Montrose and Waverly would have to pay to become part of our Commission and most importantly, not to become a customer of us, but to have a seat at the table. That is what they want, to be a partner with us and not a customer of the Commission,” Hinnenkamp said.
To get to that break-even point where the improvements don’t cost current users any extra money, Montrose and Waverly were asked to pay an additional $7 million on top of that $9.6 million for a total buy in amount of $16.6 million.
The Commission presented this information to Montrose and Waverly city councils, and they both responded with formal requests in favor of moving forward, Hinnenkamp said.