PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County’s re-visioned sewer treatment plant for Port Hadlock will be getting a much-needed boost.
Among other economic develop- ment priorities, Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean highlighted the sewer project Monday at the Port Townsend Elks Club during the bimonthly luncheon for the Chamber of Jefferson County.
Dean talked about regulatory reform, affordable housing and the Olympic Discovery Trail, but it was the sewer that brought the most optimism.
State Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Port Townsend, helped secure $1.4 million for the project as the chair of the House Capital Budget Committee.
“This is a key infrastructure need in Jefferson County,” Tharinger said in a phone interview Monday. “They’ve been trying to figure out a way to get it done for a long time.”
Dean told about 75 people at the luncheon that the state funds will be a great start for engineering and design. What once was projected to cost more than $33 million is down to about $23 million with a smaller scope and the use of different technology, she said.
“The irony being it’s something you never want to see, but it’s really important,” she said.
The first phase, which will have capacity for 446 equivalent residential units, will increase density in a more affordable area for housing and reduce the number of septic systems near shorelines, Dean said.
“All of the poop created here has to leave here,” she said. “We are not processing our own waste.”
Tharinger said the state funding will come from the public works assistance account, a revolving fund used for similar infrastructure projects.
“This is a big step,” he said. “I think we’re turning the corner now.”
Dean said the county will still need $10 million to $15 million in funds.
“It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “That means landowners are going to absorb some of that cost, and that’s a heavy lift.”
Dean said users will pay when they connect, have an on-site system or through their monthly bill.
Countywide, Dean projected a shortfall of about $5 million between revenue and expenditures in the 2019 budget, although she said the county typically doesn’t spend all of its projected $56 million in expenditures.
“Every time we project out, there’s always a gap there,” she said. “It’s a real source of consternation for us. I’m often asked, ‘I’m paying more taxes than ever, how is it we are in this place?’ ”
Dean explained by citing the state’s limit of 1 percent growth year over year and said it doesn’t keep up with inflation.
On the plus side, Dean said county sales tax revenues for the first three months of the year are the highest they’ve been since 2010, and the county lodging tax revenue is higher than anticipated.
“Typically people are out and spending, and that gives us a little wiggle room in the county,” she said.
Dean also said the county commissioners and the Board of Health signed a joint resolution to scale back regulations to the county code to “see how we can do business better in Jefferson County.”
She also touched on getting $831,000 in state money this year from the Public Infrastructure Fund to invest in projects such as telecommunications infrastructure on Water Street in downtown Port Townsend through the Jefferson County PUD and the design and engineering for the Quilcene water tank.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
