By SCOTT MILLER

Staff Reporter

Sunset Hills residents will vote Tuesday, Nov. 2, on whether to pool resources to help pay for repair to sections of sewer line running between a house and the street.

Currently, homeowners foot the bill, but the proposed sewer lateral repair program would provide assistance when homeowners suffer damage to the sewer lateral connecttng their plumbing to the city sewer system.

“We hadithis propositton up once before a couple of years ago and it was defeated, so we’ve hadia lot of pressure to put it back on the ballot,” Mayor Jim Hobbs said.

“It’s kind of like a co-op. Everybody to-gether helping to defray the cost if someone has a major sewer lateral problem,” the mayor added.

When the referendum failed previously, Hobbs said many more residents had septic tanks, which aren’t covered underithe program, but now most of those homes are covered by another district and the residences with sewer laterals want a second chance to vote.

If approved, every household would pay a $50 fee annually on their property tax bill. The money would be pooled to cover the repair costs of damaged sewer laterals.

St. Louis County, then, would administerithe program, receiving repair applications and providing drain layers. The county currently administers several similar programs throughout St. Louis County.

“For the first year or two it’s a struggle because the fund doesn’t have enough to service everybody,” Hobbs said, “but what we would do is keep track of that and reimburse them when the fund has enough money in it.”

The city hasn’t developed specific plans concernio wwhat other repairs the fund would cover — sidewalks, driveways, grass, flower beds and other yard amenities or outbuildings, according to City Clerk Laura Rider.

“We’re waiting to see if it passes first,” she said.