A state dental foundation and the local health department are upping the ante in their bid to get fluoridated drinking water in a place where they still have a chance of prevailing.
Their target: Puyallup.
While city officials haven’t decided whether to add the cavity-fighting agent to their water supply, the health groups this week offered to double their previously offered contribution to help start the service.
That money would cover nearly the entire cost, estimated at $320,000, of installing equipment to fluoridate Puyallup’s water. No similar offer has been made to other cities and water utilities.
It was not yet enough, however, to convince Puyallup’s elected officials to fluoridate.
Concerned with the estimated $107,000 annual cost to operate the system, most members of the City Council agreed to consider putting the issue on the ballot, or at least informally poll customers through utility bills.
“Overall, we were disappointed because we put in direct efforts with (Puyallup) over three years,” said Sean Pickard, the Washington Dental Service Foundation lobbyist who attended the council meeting Monday night.
Puyallup officials voted to fluoridate about a month after the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Board made the April 2002 decision to mandate it for the county’s larger water suppliers. Puyallup had been considering the water additive since the summer of 2001.
Other water providers resisted the mandate. Several of them took the health board to court and won a decision from the state Supreme Court this year. During that time, Puyallup had proceeded with planning and designing its system.
The majority of the City Council said they thought fluoridating the city’s water was the right thing to do. Many of the members still do.
But they said they are having a hard time justifying a possible 1 percent utility rate increase to help run a fluoridation system for about 10,000 households and other customers.
The increase would amount to about 62 cents a month for the average customer. And that’s on top of a proposed 2.4 percent increase in the total utility bill, which covers water, sewer and stormwater management in Puyallup.
“We are looking at whether we can come up with $100,000 annually,” Councilman Marc Brouillet said. “I don’t necessarily disagree with fluoridation.”
Puyallup rejected bids last month for fluoridation equipment because they all exceeded the budget.
The additional money the health groups are offering would cover the installation, but not the estimated $107,000 annual operating cost.
On Monday night, the council decided against resoliciting bids for the project for now; instead it will consider asking residents what they want.
Tracy Garland, president and chief executive officer of the dental foundation, said Puyallup is the only water provider fielding an offer for extra money.
But she said the foundation will consider working with others.
The foundation – mainly funded by Washington Dental Service, the state’s largest dental insurer- awarded a $420,000 grant to the county health department in 2002 to help water providers start fluoridating. The health department matched the grant, creating a pot of $840,000 for local grants.
But after the Supreme Court decision, some water providers are considering not taking, or returning, their money. Sumner voted last week not to fluoridate, leaving some money to redirect to other suppliers.
Foundation officials had hoped the additional money for Puyallup would persuade the city to commit to their cause.
“It was disappointing that there was no vote,” Garland said.
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