The city of Kansas City, Mo., faces the question of how it will pay the estimated $3.6 billion it needs to install a new sewer and storm water system. A new task force has been formed to address the funding question and determine how the city will stop sewage and other pollutants from flowing into local water bodies.

The task force, appointed by Mayor Mark Funkhouser, will determine tax and fee increases and whether to use other methods such as bonds to pay for what is deemed the city's largest-ever public works project. Kansas City must submit its final plan to state and federal regulatory agencies in July 2007.

The city's sewer and storm water system is comprised of 7,200 miles of underground piping; that is equivalent to the distance from Kansas City to Honolulu and back, according to city officials. "This impacts every city council district," said Councilwoman Jan Marcason, chairwoman of the Water Services Utility Funding Task Force. "We have the financial future of 450,000 residents at our fingertips."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has threatened to sue the city, which has delayed establishing a sewer/storm water plan for decades. "We have a tight deadline," Marcason said. "If we don't make progress as it [EPA] sees fit, they can put us under a court order."

The city's Water Services Department has provided the task force with a list of possible financial solutions to raise revenue for the project: raising utility fees, a sales tax, property tax, bonds or federal and state funding opportunities.

Source: The Kansas City Star