Sandpoint asks voters to OK $130 million bond for wastewater treatment plant

Sandpoint voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to approve a $130 million bond to replace the city’s aging wastewater treatment facility. The bond would be paid through utility rates, not property taxes.

“Our wastewater plant has reached the end of its useful life,” Mayor Jeremy Grimm said.

The facility, on the bank of Lake Pend Oreille near the mouth of the Pend Oreille River, was built in the 1950s reusing parts from Farragut Naval Station. Upgrades were made in the 1970s and ’80s in response to new requirements from the Clean Water Act.

The plant treats 1 to 2 million gallons of wastewater on a typical day. During storms, however, up to 13 million gallons flow into the plant, and modeling shows that could reach 15 million during a major storm, risking catastrophic spillover, according to the project website sandpoint-wwtp.org.

A recent report by the Idaho Conservation League shows the Sandpoint plant violated its discharge permit six times in 2024 and five times in 2023. (The Idaho Conservation League endorses Sandpoint’s bond measure).

In February of this year, an equipment failure released a few hundred gallons of partially treated wastewater onto the facility’s parking lot and eventually into the river, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.

These violations were quickly mitigated thanks to dedicated staff, Grimm said, but these incidents will become more frequent and severe if nothing is done.

“The plant is literally disintegrating before our eyes,” Grimm said.

Fixing the plant is one of the main issues Grimm campaigned for in his run for office two years ago.

If the bond passes, wastewater fees are expected to increase about 100% in the next five years. If the bond fails, the project will still need to go forward to comply with federal and state standards, but rates could increase 600% to cover the costs up front.

The current rate for a single-family home is about $100 a month.

If the bond passes, the city can pursue grants and low-interest loans to offset some of the costs. The state already has approved a $3.5 million grant and $38 million loan contingent on the bond passing.

No federal dollars have been allocated despite outreach efforts, Grimm said.

When the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, the majority of project costs were paid for by the government. But now that many of those projects have reached the end of their useful life, Grimm said the federal government is nowhere to be found.

“I see it as an unfunded federal mandate,” Grimm said. “The federal government is demanding we treat our water to a certain standard and has provided zero funds to support those efforts. To put a $130 million bond on the backs of 4,000 utility users is unconscionable.”

If the bond fails, Grimm said the city could seek a judicial confirmation to determine that the project is an “ordinary and necessary expenditure” so the city wouldn’t need voter approval to go into debt. Otherwise, the project will have to be paid for “cash out of hand” by raising rates as fast and as high as possible to secure the cash necessary to pay for the project up front.

Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and last about five years.

The project would be phased so the plant remains in service throughout.

Grimm said it’s not just Sandpoint, but a broader regional question about how the state should handle its aging infrastructure.

The Idaho Conservation League report showed over half of all wastewater facilities in Idaho have had a recent permit violation. And a University of Idaho study published this summer found a $1 billion backlog in water systems work needed across the state.

“Some state elected officials believe the key to the state’s economic prosperity is simply low taxes,” Grimm said. “They need to get their heads out of the sand and understand that infrastructure is the foundation that our economy is built on, not low taxes.”