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At the Globe City Council’s February 13 meeting, councilmembers heard a presentation on a sewer service study for the city’s northeast corridor and voted to table a controversial proposal to redistribute bed taxes.
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At the Globe City Council’s February 13 meeting, councilmembers heard a presentation on a sewer service study for the city’s northeast corridor and voted to table a controversial proposal to redistribute bed taxes.
Jeffrey Kellner, of engineering and planning firm Kimley-Horn, gave the presentation on his firm’s northeast corridor sewer study. The northeast corridor is the area along US Highway 60 from its junction with US Highway 70 to the Gila County Fairgrounds area, and the City of Globe is looking into extending sewer service in that direction.
The study looked at improvements to serve now-unserved parts of the corridor; impacts of ex- tended service to the exist- ing system; whether there is capacity to add new customers; improvements to the existing wastewater treatment plant; funding opportunities for the project; and giving the city a path to make a decision on the improvements and their funding.
Kellner said the study examined whether to extend pipelines along the corridor or build a new treatment facility near the fairgrounds, and recommended the former. “We found that it made sense to extend service. When we were first looking at this, we were really just looking at the fairgrounds area. But when we started to look at the entire corridor and started to see other development areas, it made no sense to have a satellite facility just in the fairgrounds area. Let’s install a collection system that can serve all of the area.”
He added that the improvements would combine sewer pipes and a fairgrounds-area lift station, and there was potential USDA funding for the collection system. Before such funding is granted, the USDA would require a preliminary engineering report.
After Kellner’s presentation, City Engineer Luis Chavez spoke to the council. “We are trying to determine the actual capacity of the system coming from the northeast corridor, with all the connections that exist on that main sewer line,” Chavez said. “We need to verify what we actually have in the ground.” He added that his department was getting quotes from three companies to install meters to check the flows. “Once we have a design, we can estimate the cost; then we will have to work with USDA.”
After a long line of speakers came up to oppose the proposed changes to bed tax distribution, Councilman Jesse Leetham moved to table the proposal until city councilmembers and staff could meet with the five affected organizations to work out an alternative, and the council approved his motion.
The city has been distributing annual bed tax funds to the Globe- Miami Regional Chamber of Commerce, Southern Gila County Economic Development Corporation (22.5% each), Globe Downtown Association, Cobre Valley Center for the Arts (20% each) and Gila County Historical Society (15%). In its fiscal year 2023 budget, the city estimated 2023 bed tax revenues at approximately $237,000.
Among other things the proposal would have given each organization an equal share of 16.6% with the remaining 16.6% going to the city’s monthly First Friday activities, which was where the opposition came in. The idea drew a litany of speakers – organization members and local business owners who protested the redirection of funding to First Fridays and its negative impact on their ongoing missions to promote the city of Globe. Phil Stewart, speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, asked the city to sit down with each of the five organizations for further discussion – a proposal that council ultimately supported.
Aside from the percentage changes, the proposal would have distributed bed tax funds semi-annually instead of quarterly; required a presentation from each organization on their funding request; allowed a two-month window for each request; and not distributed funds after the end of a fiscal budget year.
