Rip van Saltzman's 12-year nap on the Portland City Council was interrupted last week when the West Hills prince stirred briefly and noted that the city's sewer bill receipts are being raided for all sorts of junk that should either be paid for from other sources or not paid for at all:

"Portland’s sewer ratepayers should not be expected to shoulder a larger and larger share of citywide services that do not directly correspond with the BES’s core mission," Saltzman wrote in a memo to the mayor, fellow city commissioners and city budget managers. The programs collectively cost the agency $220,200.

They include: $75,000 for Endangered Species Act work on Portland waterways, (a cost formerly paid by the Portland Development Commission); $65,000 to control invasive species at Portland parks; $69,000 to enforce dog rules in city parks and natural areas; and $11,200 for sampling and analysis services at Cully Park, related to annual state certification of the Killingsworth Landfill.

But let it be duly recorded: Saltzman noticed. And he wrote a nice memo.