Better paving for Spokane Valley will cost more

New street standards proposed for Spokane Valley could prove costly for the city as well as people waiting to get sewer service.

Spokane County Utilities Director Bruce Rawls told the City Council Tuesday that a planned increase in residential paving standards would cost an estimated $900,000 next year.

That’s just the portion for patching the trenches where sewer lines are laid in residential streets. It doesn’t include the cost of paving the unexcavated portions.

The county sewer fund pays to patch the trenches, and the city pays to extend new pavement to the rest of the affected streets. Rawls offered no estimate of how much the city’s share might rise if the new standards are adopted.

City officials say the proposed residential paving standard – three inches of asphalt over six inches of gravel – is needed because Spokane Valley streets are failing prematurely.

A study found the current standard – two inches of asphalt over four inches of gravel – isn’t adequate for this region’s climate.

Rawls urged the council not to apply the new standard to the county’s ongoing on project to replace septic tanks with sewers.

Otherwise, unless the city wants to pay the county’s extra costs, Rawls said the county would be forced to increase the amount it charges property owners to hook up to the sewer system.

He estimated the new standards would cost homeowners in the West Farms, South Greenacres, Corbin and Cronk neighborhoods an extra $700 apiece next year. The county plans to build 16.3 miles of sewer lines in those areas.

The planned $5,780 “capital facilities” charge would rise to $6,480.

Rawls didn’t estimate the increase for residents of the Green Haven and Micaview areas, where the county plans to complete its septic tank-elimination program in 2011 with 6.8 miles of sewer construction.

Council members called for a staff report on the sewer issue before they take final action on the new street standards.

Also Tuesday, the council directed the city staff to find out how much a consultant would charge to determine the cost of broadcasting council meetings on the Internet as well a cable television channel.

Greg “Bing” Bingaman, the city’s information technology specialist, estimated $150,000 to $200,000 worth of all-purpose hardware would be needed. That money could come from fees Comcast would pay under a new cable television franchise the council approved Tuesday.

However, Bingaman said Comcast wouldn’t pay any of the cost of broadcasting videos on the city’s Web site. That would cost $40,000 for startup equipment and up to $1,500 a month in operating expenses, he estimated.

Also, Bingman estimated, the city would have to spend $80,000 to $100,000 a year in labor costs to broadcast council meetings. Any additional programming would cost more, he said.

Bingaman said his estimates were based on “medium-level” production quality, and anything less wouldn’t be worthwhile.

“People expect quality video today,” Bingaman said. “If they don’t get it, they’re not going to tune in.”

He said only one of a half-dozen Washington cities he studied has statistics on viewership. That was Kent, population 88,380, where 30 to 40 people watch live cable broadcasts of council meetings and 50 to 60 people watch replays on the Internet.

Mayor Rich Munson said he put the issue on the agenda because Spokane Valley’s 89,440 residents too often say they don’t know what their government is doing.

“I want to get it passed before the end of the year,” Munson said in an interview Monday.

By January, four new council members will have been seated. Munson and two other incumbents, Diana Wilhite and Ian Robertson, were voted out of office earlier this month, and Councilman Dick Denenny is stepping down.

Approving a broadcast plan now will relieve the new council members of responsibility for the expenditure, “and they can always do something else if they want to,” Munson said.