SAM Board Advances Budgets as Montara Force Main Costs Loom, Expired Easement Threatens Solar Plans

The Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) board unanimously sent two budgets to its member agencies Monday night — a collection services budget up 20% and a general operations budget up 15% — while confronting a pair of surprises: the consent-decree-mandated Montara sewer force main could cost three to four times what's currently budgeted, and a 40-year-old easement granting SAM the right to operate on its own plant site quietly expired in 2022.

• Two budgets advance to member agencies with combined increases driven by new Local 39 union contract — collection services up 20% (~$913K) and general operations up 15%

• Montara force main could reach $12.5–$15M as Middle East conflict pushes petroleum costs above $112/barrel; contractor pricing won't arrive until May or June

• Expired 1982 easement discovered on SAM's treatment plant site, blocking a solar power purchase agreement and electrical building project ahead of a July 4–5 tax credit deadline

• Harbor District waives $130K in staging fees for force main construction on the contested Burnham Strip, drawing community pushback

Why it matters: The roughly $150,000 increase in SAM's collection services budget will be allocated among Half Moon Bay, Granada Community Services District, and Montara Water & Sanitary District. Staff said the main driver is the Local 39 memorandum of understanding and related personnel-cost increases, though a prior-year collections deficit and some non-personnel cost increases also factor into the overall agency assessments.