Other articles by Erica Meltzer:

Carroll's queries to get no answers Taxpayers paying for officials' guzzlersCounty may buy Tumamoc Hill land Ann Day will face GOP challenger Youth-sports plan called non-viableSeized funds often not used for crime warStates, feds allow assets used in crimes to be seizedPreview: Money to help fight crime around Tucson spent on goodies instead RICO funds pay for LaWall report 94 of 110 dogs seized in Feb. are euthanized in one day

Dental
Dr. John Carson, DDS, PC
Dental Asst/Treatment Coordinator Health Care
Visiting Angels
Caregivers Trades/Construction
Paragon Electric
Electricians General
Chapel Haven West
Program Staff Education
Indian Oasis Baboquivari Unified School District
Teachers / Principals Trades/Construction
arizona portland cement
maintenance electrician Health Care
Mountain View Retirement Village
LPN

Tucson Water customers soon could see an extra tax on their water bills — to pay for road construction.

The cost of moving waterlines for road projects is going up, and Pima County, which now pays half the cost to move Tucson Water lines running through county right of way, wants the city to pick up the entire tab.

Although the details haven't been worked out, Assistant City Manager Karen Masbruch said the most likely way to absorb the extra cost would be an extra fee on water bills.

She said the fee likely would be less than 5 percent. Fees collected from city customers would be used first in the city, while fees collected in the county would be used first there.

Any deal would need to be approved both by the Tucson City Council and the Pima County Board of Supervisors. City and county officials said they hope to have a deal within a few months.

The new agreement would overturn a long-standing arrangement under which the city and the county split the cost of moving water and sewer lines for road projects.

Pima County has been pushing for change for several years, saying the outdated agreement has cut into already stretched transportation dollars.

"That has ended up costing us far more than we anticipated," said John Bernal, deputy county administrator for public works.

Those costs are going up, in part because construction costs are going up, but also because the county soon will be doing far more road projects under the Regional Transportation Plan approved last year.

While the county estimates it spent $17 million on waterline relocation over the last 25 years, it expects to spend as much as $43 million in the next 12 years.

Masbruch said the city agrees it should take over paying for line relocation. In fact, she said the city made the county an offer more than a year ago.

In turn, the county would pay the entire cost of moving sewer lines when required for city road projects. However, that happens far less often because sewer lines run much deeper than waterlines.

Negotiations have faltered over several points, including how the money will be collected and paid, and how much the city should pay to cover "soft costs" such as design and engineering.

The city is willing to pay an additional 20 percent to cover soft costs, while the county thinks soft costs approach 35 percent.

"I really feel the city has done everything possible to address utility relocation," Masbruch said. "They could have had an agreement a year ago."

Negotiations also are tied up in a larger dispute between the county and Tucson Water over the use of effluent generated by outlying sewer treatment plants.

Masbruch said the two issues should be resolved together.

Smaller water utilities, such as Metro Water in the Northwest and Community Water Company of Green Valley, pay all the costs of moving their lines when they run through county rights of way, as do private utilities.

But the county also wants new license agreements with the smaller water companies.

Those companies objected last week when county staffers put an agreement before the supervisors without first showing it to the utility companies. The supervisors put off a vote until February to give the companies time to comment.

Though that agreement won't change the amount those utilities have to pay, it does set time limits for moving waterlines, require companies to provide precise locations of buried lines and establish financial penalties if certain terms aren't met.

Bernal said the changes are necessary because delays add to project costs.

Mark Stratton, general manager at Metro Water District, said the utility companies want to be cooperative, but the public procurement process and older lines that predate modern computer mapping could make compliance difficult.

He also said the county contributes as much to delays as the water companies do.

Stratton and other water district officials said they didn't know why the county didn't discuss the agreement with them before seeking approval from the supervisors.

Bernal said the county had discussions in the past and just didn't think to return to the companies with the draft agreement. He said the county would use the next month to work out any outstanding problems.

"Nothing was implemented. No harm, no foul," Bernal said.