There’s just nothing stinkier than a sewer.

Except maybe the whiff of double standards for the rich and powerful.

On the one hand you have county residents on Kimberly Avenue in middle-class northwest Bakersfield facing annexation because some homeowners there want city services, specifically, sewer.

On the other, you have county residents in the wealthy enclave of Old Stockdale getting city sewer hookups without even a whisper of the “A” word.

How come?

Apparently just asking the question is irritating, as I discovered when City Manager Alan Tandy testily demanded to know why I was asking about it. Otherwise, he said I was wasting his time. Ultimately, he referred me to City Attorney Ginny Gennaro.

A much less annoyed Gennaro told me that, yes, mistakes were made in allowing some residents of Old Stockdale to hook up to city sewer.

Throughout the city, she said, sewer agreements and contracts were entered into over the years that don’t fit with current policy but must sometimes still be honored to avoid lawsuits. And then there were some flat-out errors, as happened in Old Stockdale.

My conclusion: Our sewer system is schizophrenic and we should consider a more regional approach that focuses on efficiency and public health and safety instead of lines on a map.
That, or the city needs to bite the bullet and annex county islands like Old Stockdale not only out of fairness to other areas, such as Kimberly Avenue, that have to chose between no sewer or annexation, but also to follow its own ordinance passed in 2002 that states no one outside city boundaries can have city sewer service.

Ever since the annexation debacle of the late 1990s however, the city has been annexation shy.

Back in 1998, the city annexed a neighborhood near Olive Drive and another near Palm Avenue. Residents sued and detached from the city in 2000. State law changed as a result, putting most annexation powers in the hands of the Local Agency Formation Commission. (Except in certain cases.)

Now, the city only begins annexations of populated areas when residents ask to be annexed. That’s what’s happening on Kimberly Avenue. LAFCO will likely take up the issue in the next month or two.

I’ve never understood the annexation angst. Your basic property taxes don’t change; neither do rules about animals, despite what you may have heard.

Since the county went to mandatory garbage collection, the only real difference these days is sewer.

In recent years the county has tightened up its sewer/septic tank rules, requiring dry sewers in new subdivisions and hook-up fees so when sewer lines are built, homeowners can connect.

If you’re already on a septic tank, the city won’t force you on to the sewer, I was told. You hook in if you want to, or if your septic fails and the state deems the situation a health hazard.

Cost is an issue.

But it all depends on how close the trunk line is. For Kimberly Avenue residents, the trunk line is relatively close, so it will cost $11,800 per household (residents can pay that back over three to five years with no interest) and the yearly sewer fee is $155.

It’s not cheap, but for those who really want the sewer, it’s worth it.

Back in 2005, Old Stockdale residents Frank Cantelmi and Tracy Rogers each were planning remodels and wanted to hook on to the city sewer. A neighbor, Tharrell Ming, had done it the year before with no hassles, Ming told me. Cantelmi and Rogers were both initially approved and then denied. Cantelmi dropped the issue as too expensive to pursue, but Rogers kept at it and succeeded.

Cantelmi was given several reasons for his denial, including that state law prohibits a government entity from extending services to residents of another government entity. True, sort of, except if the city got permission from LAFCO, then it’s cool.

Cantelmi said he was also told that others, such as Ming, had “slipped through the cracks” and the city couldn’t compound its error by allowing anyone else to get on the sewer.

Not exactly true, either.

The city had an agreement with the Stockdale Country Club in 1980 allowing the club to build a line out to the city’s sewer line. The club could recoup its costs by allowing a specific set of nearby homes — 39 — to hook into the club line, at the homeowners’ expense.

Over the ensuing  years, 24 Old Stockdale homes have hooked up to the sewer, including Ming and Rogers who were both part of the original 39 allowable parcels. Five of those 24 homes, however, weren’t part of the 39 and Gennaro said those were mistakes. But you can’t unhook them now.

“It’s a tricky deal,” Cantelmi acknowledged.

As for when a city can annex without LAFCO approval, state law allows it for true “islands”  — such as Old Stockdale — that are substantially or totally surrounded by the city.

Considering how much effluent hit the fan the last time Bakersfield tried to bring Old Stockdale into the fold, I’d say that ain’t gonna happen.

Which brings me back to my original conclusion: the city and county need to come up with a more rational approach to the sewer issue in metro Bakersfield.