Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Wilmer Citizens will pay 2.8 Million Dollars for What?

I have been expressing the need to improve Wilmer water infrastructure, such as capacity, storage, and distribution upgrades. The aging system has been identified repeatedly as not sufficient for current population let alone the significant phase of development that has been predicted for several years, Wilmer citizens will now be dealt a hand that can not be folded. The losing hand is Dallas County funding  a 10 million dollar water project that will be repaid by the residents of Wilmer and Lancaster. This problem is compounded by the fact that Wilmer, passing the 2010 bond, could have been sailing on its own water supply rather than being reliant on neighboring Lancaster to sell Wilmer water. The negotiated terms of this new agreement is tilted heavily in Lancaster favor.This disastrous situation is due to Wilmer's lack of regional understanding of the issues.

In 2010, a bond package was proposed to address the needs of Wilmer water needs. This bond was for a total of 18million dollars over a 10 year period. Most importantly, this bond would have provide Wilmer's own access point to purchase Dallas Water Utilities bulk water at a significantly lower rate. This difference in the retail purchase prices and bulk rates could have sustained the burden of added debt by approximately 60%. The plan to budget for the remaining 40% was to establish impact fees for new development and approximately .05/ $100 valuation in property tax which was less than $1 a month for the average homeowner. The bond would have allowed Wilmer to control it own water rates by eliminating the retail water supplier along with many substantial improvements. With the proposed agreement, the City of Lancaster now has the ability to set rates for Wilmer merely by raising prices. I am hopeful that Wilmer negotiators have established safeguards against indiscriminate pricing.

Let's explore the Lancaster/ Wilmer/ Dallas County waterline deal with the limited information that has been publicly discussed.

1. Wilmer buys water from the City of Hutchins. Wilmer will now purchase from Lancaster. Essentially same pricing, no change.

2. Lancaster has built too much capacity for current needs and needs to increase daily usage so minimum chlorination levels can be maintained. Wilmer has been purchasing water from Hutchins since 2010 with no stagnation issues. 

3. Wilmer will have a debt of 2.8M dollars structured for 20 years. Lancaster will pay about 2.2M.

In summary, without an access point to Dallas Water Utilities, Wilmer will continue to be reliant on its neighbors and the right to self determination is nill. Once again, without leadership that understands regional issues, Wilmer will be dominated and never be more than the red headed step child of Dallas County.    

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