Voters reject city water bond

SANDPOINT — A $20.5 million water bond that would have overhauled the city’s lake water treatment plant has been rejected by voters.

In a light turnout, voters turned a cold shoulder to the proposal in a 141-104 vote.

Of the city’s 3,912 registered voters, only 245 — or 6 percent — showed up at the polls.

That compares to a 2002 council election with former mayor and city councilman Ray Miller and former council members Alison Burgstahler and Cindy Elliot ran unopposed for their council seats. In that election, only 162 people turned out to vote, said former Sandpoint city clerk Helen Newton.

If the bond had been approved, the renovations would have included a switch from the current sand and coal water filters to more advanced membrane cartridge filters, while also expanding treatment capacity from 3 million gallons per day to 10 million. The bond would have also gone toward building a larger transmission pipeline for raw water, as well as rehabilitation of the plant’s chemical and operations buildings.

The bond asked for $20.5 million, but Public Works Director Kody Van Dyk said the actual cost would have been much lower, in the $12 million range.

Had it passed, as much as 30 percent of the project would have been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program, according to Van Dyk.

The remaining costs would have been paid down over 20-30 years using increased user fees and new user fees. Van Dyk said users would have seen their water bill jump by 25-30 percent, which pencils out to a $5 to $6 monthly increase.

Last week Van Dyk said if the bond failed the city could either drop the issue, put the bond back on a ballot in November or seek a judicial confirmation.