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With $50 million in bonds approved, Heber City looks to replace major water and sewer lines

Heber City Hall is located at 75 North Main Street.
Ben Lasseter
/
KPCW
Heber City Hall is located at 75 North Main Street.

At a meeting Wednesday, the Heber City Council took another step toward a water and sewer line repairs project. After a public hearing on the project, the council approved bonds worth almost $50 million.

The area of focus for improvements this summer is about 30 blocks in the Old Town area east of Main Street and south of Center Street. Next year, it’ll be a similarly sized area north of Center Street.

Construction of phase 1A is set to last from May through October, and there’ll be another round from May to October of 2023. That will replace the least reliable pipes, some of which date back to the early 1950s.

In the public hearing, resident Doug Thompson told the council he’s experienced problems with the water lines around his house and supports the project.

“As an engineer, I understand the details,” he said. “You’ve got to get down and get dirty sometimes, and get it done right. So, I encourage you to continue on, do it well, and hopefully the project website will have a lot of details. I want the details; I’m a numbers guy. So, I appreciate it.”

Following the council’s decision, the city can issue bonds up to $47 million, but it may not take on that full amount of debt. That’s a decision to make next month when it finalizes costs.

According to the city, the 70-year-old pipes are losing pressure as mineral buildup accumulates. In recent years, pipe failures have increased, causing entire blocks to shut down. The majority of those occurred within the Old Town project area.

The city says it’ll offer lots of public outreach for the project, including door hangers and open houses in the neighborhoods impacted.

The first phase will cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million.

“This is a large project; it’s going to be a very expensive project,” said Matt Brower, city manager. “What we wanted to do, is make sure that the rates that we would have to adopt, in order for us to complete this project, weren’t so large that it caused a pushback, or a rate revolt, by the residents. That’s why we’re doing this in phases, to make sure that we don’t have to increase rates so exceptionally high, but we do it incrementally to take care of the project.”

The city raised utility rates to pay for infrastructure starting in 2020, and this year, residents are paying about $8 a month per household. Commercial taxpayers pay about twice that.

The city’s also using a $20 million loan from the Community Impact Board, $5 million in grants from the state and federal government from American Rescue Plan stimulus money and city funds to pay for the project.

For more information on the project, visit the city website at heberut.gov.

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