Just need money
Plant construction could start by Oct.

The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority believes it can be ready to begin construction on the wastewater treatment plant for the Cudjoe Regional System by October of this year.

Of course, that is if the county has come up with a way to finance that construction by then.

FKAA representative Tom Walker told the Board of County Commissioners that the aerial surveys for the project, the largest yet undertaken by Monroe County for wastewater development, have been completed, and the initial planning phase of the transmission and collection lines is about 90 percent complete.

“We will have the design for the collection system ready to go to bid by July or August 2009,” said Walker. “The treatment system design should be done at about the same time.”

The county has already committed money from its own coffers to pay for the design of the system. The project is estimated to cost about $190 million and cover more than 10,000 equivalent dwelling units, by far the largest project the county has ever undertaken.

Funding is still the sticking point.

The state Legislature last year approved, but did not authorize a $200 million bond to help the county finance its sewer systems. That money is now at risk with the state facing a $6 billion budget shortfall.

The federal government many years ago approved, but did not authorize, $100 million for the Keys’ wastewater development costs. According to Commissioner Heather Carruthers, the former federal administration decided that wastewater in the Keys was not an appropriate use of that money as an environmental-enhancement project, which is why the Army Corps of Engineers, which has oversight of those funds, has been “less than forthcoming” with support.

During a discussion on whether to approve a revised wastewater master plan update, FKAA proposed that the county and the Department of Health regulate the administrative codes under which the systems will be built, and the county handle the property assessments while FKAA builds and operates the systems.

FKAA Executive Director Jim Reynolds told the commission that the agency is in negotiations with the health department to install and maintain on-site systems for those not proposed for inclusion in the central systems.

But the county still has to fund the construction.

Reynolds said that the FKAA’s biggest concern was how to achieve equity among the property owners who will be connected to the system and those who won’t be connected to the system.

“Whether there is a pipe running in front of the house or not, we want to achieve equity in the service area,” said Reynolds. “Those who have an on-site system should pay the same development fees as those who will get central service.”

Reynolds said that if the worst-case scenario happens and there is no state or federal subsidy money to begin construction of the systems, the FKAA is also looking for a way to make sure that those who get central service will pay the same amount as those who get on-site systems, even if everyone is paying full freight.

“If there is no subsidy and we have to charge full freight, we have to decide whether we do that as an upfront fee and amortize it over time or we do it as a higher O&M fee for the user,” said Reynolds. “If we then get grant money, everyone connected to the system gets the benefit of reduced rates.”

FKAA has estimated that it will cost about $20,000 to $23,000 per EDU to complete the Cudjoe regional system, with some areas higher and some lower.

“There would be no way to say that it costs you more to sewer a 100-foot lot than your neighbor with a 60-foot lot, and we know it will cost more to reach the outlying areas, but the cost to each EDU will be the same. It’s the only fair way to go about that,” said Reynolds.

The commission has yet to set a hook-up fee. That amount will be based largely on how much money the county can get into its coffers from state and federal sources, the as-yet-completely-unknown variable in the equation.

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