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MYSTERY SHOPPERS

Marana plans to file a lawsuit this morning against Pima County as part of the town's effort to create its own sewer system.

The Marana Town Council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to pursue litigation. Councilman Herb Kai cast the only no vote.

Marana wants to run its own sewer system so it can get access to the effluent.

The town wants a court to interpret a 1979 agreement between Marana and Pima County over sewer service in the town. Town officials believe filing a lawsuit is the only way to exercise their rights under the agreement.

Town officials decided late last week that further negotiations with the county over the agreement were pointless because the two sides were too far apart.

They made the decision to sue bolstered by some good news.

A preliminary rate study showed the town could run its own sewer system and charge rates similar to those charged by the county.

Anticipating Marana's decision to sue, the county Board of Supervisors came out of its own closed-door session earlier Tuesday and authorized the county attorney to take action to protect county sewer ratepayers.

Those steps include preventing the diversion of sewage from the county's $29 million sewer plant in northern Marana and preventing the town from building its own wastewater-treatment plants.

The dispute over wastewater-treatment plants has spilled over into other issues. Marana officials accused the county of retaliating against the town by withdrawing a promise to pay $600,000 toward the design of a flood-control project in Marana.

Town Councilwoman Roxanne Ziegler accused county Supervisor Sharon Bronson, who represents the area, of turning her back on the town.

"If she was behind this community and this council, this wouldn't be happening," Ziegler said. "It is clear where her allegiances lie."

County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the county is simply reconsidering whether it should spend tax money to bring land out of the flood plain so it could be developed.

A preliminary rate study prepared by Economists.com found Marana could start out with sewer rates the same as Pima County's by structuring the debt service on two new sewer plants so that payments wouldn't start until 2011. By then Marana will have more residents to share the costs of the plants, which are expected to cost a total of $52 million.

The study predicted average annual rate increases of 5.48 percent, which is similar to the average annual rate increases the county has implemented over the last 10 years. County Wastewater Management officials predict future rate increases in the county as well.

"Under town ownership, rates will have to go up, but they are going up for everyone in Arizona at alarming rates," said Dan Jackson of Economists .com. "The increases will be the equivalent of what people have seen in the last decade."

Marana Public Works Director Barbara Johnson said the town is in negotiations with a private wastewater-treatment operator who has offered a favorable contract that guarantees a fixed cost to the town to run its sewer system.

While water levels underneath the town are rising as farm fields stop production, the town needs recharge credits to offset its groundwater pumping to meet state requirements for a 100-year water supply. The effluent is one way — and the town believes the most cost-efficient way — to get those credits.

Marana officials originally wanted to buy the wastewater plant in northern Marana from the county, but when county officials weren't interested, it set off threats and counterthreats. Marana canceled the 1979 intergovernmental agreement under which the county provides sewer service in Marana, threatened to take over the county plant, then commissioned its own rate study to set up its on sewer system.

After one meeting and several exchanges of letters, Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat called off talks with the county last week.

The two sides disagree on several key issues, including whether Marana should pay the county for the sewer lines, whether Marana may divert sewage away from the county plants, and whether the town should contribute effluent to a regional settlement of Indian water rights.

The Indian water-rights settlement is at the heart of the dispute. If Marana would agree to contribute water for the settlement, the county would give the town the remaining effluent, but Marana officials don't want to give up any water.