The slow-going and expensive path of Morro Bay’s sewer plant project

Morro Bay’s sewer plant project has been an expensive disaster for taxpayers.

Nearly four years after the current administration took over, the city has not even managed to buy land to put the plant on, or to select a technology. Yet, costs are skyrocketing.

Last month, a public records request for documents identifying project consulting costs, broken down by consultant name and task, brought a city response that no documentation providing that information could be found. The city did provide a 51-page general ledger transaction listing for the project, covering a period beginning in 2013 and ending on Aug. 11, 2016.

Residents then had to locate pertinent data and calculate totals. When invoice amounts for consulting were added up, the total came to more than $1.73 million. That’s a lot of money.

One consultant had already been paid $530,727.69. Another had received $486,397.55. A third had received $362,645.53, and the list goes on. Yet, those totals did not come from any city reports. They were calculated by residents.

Evidently, the city of Morro Bay has not been tracking what it has been paying out. That is a serious failure to responsibly manage this project and our taxpayer dollars.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "The slow-going and expensive path of Morro Bay’s sewer plant project."