Millcreek needs millions to fight future fires

MILLCREEK — After several months and even years of study, the problem of inadequate water flow to combat fires in this area of unincorporated county is on its way to being solved.

In the area roughly from 700 East to 2700 East and 3000 South to 3900 South, homeowners are in greater danger from fire because their hydrants deliver only about 300 gallons of water per minute instead of the required 1,500 gallons.

"It's just not there," county public works director David Stanley said.

Salt Lake County and City have been working on the problem for some time now (the city delivers culinary water to the area) and have come up with a solution: create a special improvement district to enlarge water mains — many of which are currently only 4 inches in diameter — and put in new fire hydrants and install other improvements.

County and city officials believe they've come up with a good plan, but there is one very large prerequisite to putting it into practice.

Money. Millions of dollars.

"People don't care about anything else. They want to know, 'How much?' " county Councilman Randy Horiuchi said.

That question has yet to be answered for individual residents. The council voted this past week to create the district but has not yet decided how to allocate the cost.

The county will absorb administrative costs (about $1.6 million), and the city has agreed to pay $3 million, but residents will still be on the hook for $10.8 million in construction expenses.

If that cost were divided equally among the 5,609 parcels in the area (those within the East Millcreek, White Ditch and Lower Millcreek water systems), each one would be assessed about $1,950, which could be paid all at once or (with interest) in installments over the 10-year life of bonds issued to cover the construction costs.

But under that system, small single-family homeowners would pay the same amount as large commercial enterprises such as Home Depot and Albertsons. Council members want to make payments more proportional but are unsure how to do that legally.

"Some people have more to risk (in a fire), more to gain, but an exact determination is hard to come up with," chief deputy District Attorney Karl Hendrickson said. "A per-parcel allocation is easier to defend" legally.

Another problem with a straight-assessed value system is that large property owners would wind up paying $25,000-$30,000, Stanley said, "and that just wouldn't sell."

The council is looking at a mishmash of allocation methods.

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