Panel favors sharing cost of replacing lead pipes

A plan to split the cost of replacing lead service pipes on private property between the City of Port Washington and the land owner was endorsed Tuesday by the city’s General Government and Finance Committee.

The plan, which still needs to be approved by the Common Council, would allow homeowners to pay their share of the cost through a special assessment lasting three to five years.

By offering homeowners a cost-share situation, officials said, they hope to expedite the program, which is seen as an important public health initiative.

“Lead is bad,” City Administrator Melissa Gossett said. “It’s something we really want to get out of our community.

“We really do want everyone to do this. We don’t want the financial aspect to be the reason why people don’t do it.”

By having the city hire a contractor and organize the replacement project, officials said, they hope to increase efficiency and obtain better prices than if homeowners were to do the repairs themselves.

It could cost as much as $7,500 to replace each lead line, they said.

There are an estimated 574 lead and galvanized pipes on private property in the city, City Engineer Roger Strohm said.

The cost of replacing lead pipes is estimated at $4.8 million over 10 years, he said, with the city’s share set at $2.4 million, or $240,000 annually.

Those numbers, he added, were based on an earlier estimate that there are 640 lead lines in the community.

Finance Director Mark Emanuelson told the committee that the city’s share of the cost would not come from the water rates but instead from the utility’s reserve funds, which he said are “healthy.”

Spending $240,000 on the program annually “is not inconsequential but is manageable,” he added.

“I don’t think anyone debates the merits of replacing lead service lines.”

Ald. Dan Benning, the committee chairman, questioned why the city should subsidize the cost of replacing pipes on private land.

“It seems like we’re putting a burden on every resident of the city for a few people,” he said. “When they bought their house, I would have thought they would have had an inspection and factored in the replacement of lead pipes.”

Strohm said, “I look at it as a community health issue,” adding it’s no different than using public funds for such things as playgrounds that not everyone uses.

Ald. Deb Postl, a member of the committee who noted that the city replaced some lead lines this year, asked what homeowners’ reactions were.

“They were happy to get them out,” Fisher said.

Eric Moses told the committee he purchased his house on the city’s west side in 2020 and welcomes the program.

“It helps me in two ways,” he said. “It helps make it financially possible.”

And, he added, it also helps keep his family healthy.

The biggest question people are likely to have, he added, isn’t necessarily the cost but when their pipes will be replaced and how to take part in the program.

Replacing lead pipes is mandatory — something required by the state if a community subsidizes the program.

The work would generally be done when roads are reconstructed, since water mains in the street are replaced then.

The program is expected to begin next year. Fisher said that none of the streets included in the 2027 replacement program have lead pipes, so the project would kick off by replacing lines elsewhere in the community.

The Department of Natural Resources has recommended communities replace 10% of their lead pipes annually, Fisher noted.

Benning asked what would happen if a property owner wanted their lead pipes replaced before the city’s scheduled time.

“They can pay for it,” Emanuelson said.

Strohm noted that the city uses a chemical in its treatment of water that helps minimize any leaching of the chemical into the water. Testing has shown that the city’s water supply is within accepted levels.