The Mountain Regional Water Special Service District is the self-described “water provider of last resort” in Summit County.
The county government formed it in 2000 to serve residents in the event smaller water companies failed. It has steadily grown and now is the largest water company in Summit County, based on the volume of water it purchases for distribution.
“10 years ago, we were just over 3,000 customers, and we're up to just about 6,000 customers right now,” Assistant General Manager Lisa Hoffman said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” July 8.
Now, it’s trying to plan for the next three decades of growth. July 16, Mountain Regional will hold a public hearing regarding $43 million in bonds which the Summit County Council authorized for a project that will double the district's capacity.
It will take the Signal Hill Water Treatment Plant in Promontory from 2.6 million gallons per day to 5.5 million gallons per day. The footprint of the building would not change.
“Part of that is for new growth, and a lot of that's also for redundancy, allowing us to take our full allocation out of the Weber River,” General Manager Andy Garland said, also on “Local News Hour.”
The district taking out what’s called a WIFIA loan. Those are available under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and distributed by the Environmental Protection Agency for wastewater, drinking water and stormwater projects.
The loan will be about $34 million. Mountain Regional is building an extra $9 million into its bonding budget to account for potential unforeseen costs related, for example, to economic uncertainty or design changes. Garland estimates the water district is about 30% of the way into the design process.
One of the advantages of the WIFIA loan, according to Mountain Regional, is it can defer rate increases for residents for as long as possible. The company won’t have to make a payment on the loan until 2034.
So Mountain Regional projects the typical 3% to 5% annual rate increase from 2027 through 2033, an 8% to 9% rate increase in 2034 and then 4% to 6% rate increases after that until 2040 to repay the EPA.
“That's just if things remain constant,” Hoffman said. “Five years is a long way out to predict what might happen with growth.”
The water company is trying to time the beginning of its loan repayment after it pays off a previous bond so it doesn’t double up on debt.
The July 16 public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the county courthouse in Coalville.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
