friends and neighbors and citizens of Metropolitan phoenix. Next Tuesday
August 17, you will make an important decision on that day. You will vote
for progress in our community. If you live in the city of phoenix, you
will vote on the Metropolitan sewer proposal by voting to issue bonds to
construct the trunk line sewer systems north and northeast of phoenix. If
you live in one of the sanitary districts, you will vote to ratify the
contract under which the residents of the sanitary districts will repay
the city the cost of those trunk lines sewers. If you vote yes for these
proposals, you will be voting for a coordinated interrogated community
plan, which will eliminate the cesspool Menace, do away with the
inconvenience of pumping cesspools of having them back up and flood your
homes and which will materially improve the public health conditions in
our community. In the studio, we have mister David Campbell, chairman of
the board of directors of Phoenix Sanitary District # one Mr Campbell, a
good citizen of our community, has worked on this project for more than
two years. He has been a party to all the negotiations between our
district and the city of phoenix. And we've asked mr Campbell to tell us
of the beginning of this sanitary district, the development of the
contract and his opinion of the present proposals. Dave Campbell. Well
steve the beginning of the district as far as I was concerned, started
with the building of the camelback high school, I live just a short
distance from the school and thought that they would be putting in a sewer
line to connect with the city uh disposal plant. As so many schools have
done outside the city limits. You mean Camelback High school is not on a
sewer. Camelback high school is not on a sewer line. And we were willing
to pay a share of that cost in order to hook up to a sewer because we've
been there five years and we definitely have a terrific cesspool problem.
We did not know that other people in the area. We're doing the same thing.
We found out when we went to the board of supervisors that there were a
number of areas that had asked to hook up to a sewer line in one way or
another and that was the actual formation of the sanitary district. When I
got into it at the start, I thought it was just a small neighborhood
affair and now I'm convinced that has gone into one of the greatest things
that's ever happened to phoenix in the entire valley. Dave. How big is
phoenix sanitary district, number one, it's estimated at 26 square miles
Dave. How many people live In that area? 35,000 people. And I believe
they're served now by about 15 Cesspools. Is that right? That is correct.
There is no other, a way of sanitary waste disposal available to these
people. There is none, whatever. Dave, can you imagine those of us who
live out there being content to live in a community of that size with that
many people and have only cesspools and septic tanks. I can't, and that's
why I put so much work in on it and I can see one of these days, it's
going to hamper the development of the area. Do you know that certain
insurance companies won't make loans out here because we don't have a
sewer system? I've heard that, but I know definitely that uh, there are
certain industrial developments that haven't come here because we don't
have sewage disposal and a phoenix sanitary district number one does
extend down into that industrial area lying southeast of phoenix along the
railroad tracks, doesn't it? Yes, we do. Well, Dave, if these people need
a sewer system and certainly that should be obvious to all of us and if
there is a health menace and there again, that too is obvious. The thing
which I think concerns most people is the cost. Is this going to be an
expensive proposal? It is not. I believe it's the most economical proposal
that can ever be attained. Now, I've been in a number of negotiations with
the city. Uh, we have investigated thoroughly the possibility of our own
disposal plant and we have come up with a plan With the city of Phoenix in
cooperation with them, that will actually save us over $200,000.
Now, there are a lot of people that advocated the independent plan. I was
one of them. I was hard to convince, and we have come out with what I
think is the finest contract that's ever been negotiated? Well, David,
first, the city wasn't willing to give you that excess plant capacity.
That is correct. On the other hand, the city was not anxious to have us
build our own plant. So now, as I understand this proposal, The city is
making available to those of us who live in the Phoenix Sanitary District
#1 and also our neighbors in North Phoenix, the excess plant capacity in
the present city disposal plant at no cost. That is correct. We will have
a plant capacity of 7.5 million gallons per day. And that will cost us
nothing that will cost us nothing except the actual cost of treating the
service, treating the surge. And then we're going to be expected to pay
for our own trunk lines, sewers. That is correct. We will repay the city
of phoenix for the bonds that they issue to pay for those top lines Today.
Let's take a typical situation out north, A man who owns a nice home in
an average subdivision with a lot 75 ft wide. About what's it going to
cost him? Well, he is going to pay a 30 cent uh per 100 valuation tax rate
and the average home out there is assessed at $3,000. Mine is not, I have.
Well, possibly, it's a not quite average. My assessment is 2700 but 3000
fair figure. And that will cost him $9 per year. You mean $9 a year or 75
cents a month is all it's going to cost him for the trunk line sewers.
That is all. Until he actually hooks up well out in order to hook up. What
must he do? He must form an improvement district with his neighbors the
same as he would have to do inside the city limits of phoenix. In other
words, people in neighborhood get together and say, let's build a lateral
down our alley or down our street to enable us to discharge our sewage
into the lateral, which will carry to the trunk line. That's right. And in
that way they save a lot of costs when they get together and yes, that's
neighborhood improvement. What we do it for irrigation water and we do it
for streets and we do it for sidewalks and curbs. It's the american way of
improving our home neighborhood. That's right. And steve the, the cost of
the district like that is not high. Your lines are not as large as your
main lines And for the average home will go back the $3,000 assessed
valuation. uh it will cost them about $2 a month For 10 years. That's if
they elect the finances. If they elect the finances. If they want to pay
it in cash, they'll get off without the Internet cash cost will be about
$200 per lot or less. As a matter of fact, Dave, it has to be a good deal
less, isn't it? I know we had one engineer today and it came out at just
about $100 per lot for a nice subdivision which is located near 24th and
Thomas Road. That is to the improvement costs do vary according to the
size of a lot, the depth of a lot and how far the lateral lines after. Yes.
And whether there's an alley available in which to put the lateral line
Well Dave then this homeowner who's paying 75 cents a month in sanitary
district number one for his trunk lines and who has elected to pay his
improvement district On a 10-year plan is paying $2 a month or less for
that has one more charge, doesn't he? He certainly does. That is what we
call a service charge for a one bathroom home. It's a dollar 35 a month
with two bathrooms and more as $2 a month. The reason for that is this, we
feel that in this way the people are paying for the sewage only when they
use it and also out in our area, we have a lot of undeveloped land that
one of these days will be built up. Its building awfully rapidly out there
and the new subdivisions going in through the service charge will help to
pay for the initial cost. In other words, you're going to pay for the
story if you use the sewer that we have a total maximum cost for this
individual in a nice house. A house worth 10 or $12,000 in a nice
subdivision of $4.10 for the 1st 10 years and $2 and 10 cents per month
for the next 10 years. I might point out to Steve that in the event any
part of the area is annexed. Uh the homeowner is relieved of his tax rate
charge and his service charge. Yes. When he goes in the city, the city
takes over the special charges of the sanitary district. That's correct.
Dave. I think artists might be interested to know that just a moment ago.
All the power went off in the studio, we sat here for about five minutes
until it was restored and then we had to pick up our discussion of the
sewer proposal just where we were. Uh Dave. It was not a great
inconvenience, but what happens when your cesspool backs up? I don't know
how many people have seen what has happened when assessed pull backs up. I
have, I have a friend of mine who paid $600 to replace a rug. You don't
get it fixed in five minutes either. Do you know? It takes a long time and
it takes an awful long time to get that house cleaned up and those things
do happen. We are so accustomed in our society to all the conveniences
that sometimes we take for granted the wonderful convenience of
electricity, of water. And certainly when you have a good sewer system it
becomes just as dependable as all of the other utility service would mean
so much to us. Dave some of the people in sanitary district number one are
already on a city sewer and are paying a service charge to the city for
that sewer. What happens to those people, those people
in that area? Uh The contract they have with the city will be turned over
to us and we have and the city has protected them to this extent. There is
a clause in the contract which says that at no time can the sanitary
district charge them more than what they are presently paying the city.
Well, are you going to charge them more? No, we are going to charge them
less. I'll give you an illustration now. We'll take the stag subdivision
out on east thomas road. Yes, some lovely homes. Uh The builder, they're
put in this line to the city. And as laterals, those people have sewage,
they're being served by the city sewer And they are paying a monthly
charge of 250 per month for one bathroom C50 for a bath and a half and 375
for too bad. Now in the sanitary district
uh Let's go back to facing that on a yearly charge. It costs them for one
bath, $30 a year for bath and a half, $42. And for two bathroom home, $45
onto the sanitary district charges. They would pay for the one bathroom
home $23.20 a year as opposed to $30 a year at the present time, which is
a savings of $6.80 For the bath and a half. They'll be paying $30 instead
of $42. A saving of $12. And for the two bathroom home, they'll be paying
$30 instead of $45, but an actual saving of $15 a year. Well, certainly
those people should welcome the construction of this cooperative community
plan. Dave is this plan designed just to take care of our problems today.
This plan is not. This plan is designed to take care of the maximum
population of the district in the future. Do you think there's any saving
and building all these lines now as one central overall planned program
over piecemeal construction as time goes on, there is a very definite
saving as anyone knows when you move heavy machinery. If you can get the
job done at once, you don't have to pay for moving the machinery again and
again. However, all of the lines in the district will not be put in now,
But all the lines where there are 50 connections per mile will be put in.
That's right specifically north of the Arizona canal and be no lines put
in until there are 50 house connections per mile. Thank you. Dave Campbell
, good citizen who was interested in the community progress of this valley
where we live,
residents of the city of phoenix and the two sanitary districts. The job
is up to you now by your ballot, you will decide whether we shall go
forward with progress, protect our health, build our community, provide
for expansion and develop this area in which we live as a modern community
served by a modern sanitary sewer.
Yeah.