The Manteca City Council needs to extend out-of-district sewer and water service to the Tinnin Road elementary school site.

And they need to do so now, instead of later, before Manteca Unified School District incurs millions of dollars in unneeded costs that will reduce its ability to build the largest number of classrooms possible from community facility district fees being paid by home buyers in southwest Manteca.

It is a simple — and inexpensive — move by the city.

All the MUSD needs to do is agree to be annexed to the city in the future. The MUSD would still be on the hook for connection fees and the cost of extending pipeline.

The city has already set a precedent.

Instead, the district is being told they must get nearby property owners to all agree to be annexed before the city will provide sewer and water service.

It is safe to say the majority of the property owners involved along Tinnin Road do not want to annex to the city.

So why does this matter?

The district must make a decision in the coming six months or so to proceed down one of two paths to get an elementary school built to provide classroom space for all of the students generated from new homes being built in southwest Manteca.

One path is to go with city utilities, pay connection fees, and then pay monthly utility bills going forward.

The other is to spend well over $5 million building a septic system and putting in place a water well.

That translates into seven or so less classrooms that can be built.

It also means the district would need to maintain and operate a septic and water system.

All because the city won’t extend the same courtesy it has to others that have obtained out-of-district water or sewer service on the ironclad contractual commitment to annex in the future.

The odds of the district getting other property owners to annex now — or even in the next few years before the real risk of losing needed state bond funds to cover the majority of the $50 million price tag of a new elementary campus becomes an issue — is about as great as California’s entire House of Representatives delegation going 100 percent red in November.

To be clear, the city deserves a lot of credit for working with the district and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District to resolve storm runoff issues connected with the Tara elementary school site.

It is a complicated process to address.

And the Tara site is the most pressing to resolve.

Tinnin is a close second.

That said, the issues that the city can resolve to allow Tinnin to proceed at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers can be done now with a simple document.

All it has to say — and the district agree to — is allow the school district to hook up to city water and sewer services with the condition they will annex to the city when the time comes.

To do otherwise by insisting the district do an extremely hard heavy lift on convincing Tinnin Road residents that have no desire to annex to the city to do so now, means the city will be directly culpable for taxpayers to spend $5 million on a septic system and water well that couldn’t be needed.

It is true the city is not responsible for building or funding schools.

It is also true, under current state law, the city can’t prevent new homes from being built.

But it is a whopper, to say the least, for the city to act as if there is nothing wrong with putting an expensive hurdle in place that makes it more difficult and expensive for MUSD to provide school facilities needed to educate students that occupy homes they issue permits to be built.

Oakwood Shores was extended out of city sewer service in exchange for allowing a key storm drain line to be eventually placed on the northern edge of the gated community.

The homes in Oakwood Shores pay a higher monthly sewer rate for out-of-city service. That premium charge will go away when they annex.

A higher sewer/water charge for the MUSD for the Tinnin site with the condition it stays in place until the school site is annexed is reasonable.

The city already has “broken” its “annex first” rule to extend sewer service to Oakwood Shores to get a storm drain system in place that benefits city residents. The Tinnin school site is no different. It benefits city residents.

The ball is not in the school district’s court.

It is in the city’s court.

And for the city to argue otherwise is disingenuous at best.