Sponsor chosen for sewer project

NORTH EAST — The North East Town Board and Millerton Village Board both passed resolutions on Dec. 3 making the Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority the project sponsor for a joint sewer undertaking between the village and the town.

 But discussion before the votes highlighted concern about what areas the proposed district would serve.

The Town Board invited the Village Board to its Dec. 3 workshop meeting to further discuss the available options for a joint sewer project. On hand to answer questions were Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority (WWA) Executive Director Bridget Barclay, project facilitator Jonathan Churins, also  from the Water and Wastewater Authority and Robert Flores from the engineering firm, CT Male Associates.

The WWA has been called in because of its experience in dealing with sewer system projects in other municipalities as well as its leverage in procuring funds from the two main funding agencies, the state-run Environmental Facilities Corp. and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development branch.

Several issues were discussed, including the possibility of a permissive referendum that could take place if the county Legislature allowed the creation of a part-county sewer district. The project would only be subject to a referendum if enough signatures were gathered to constitute 5 percent of the owners of taxable real property within the proposed district.

Concern was raised when it was discovered that the actual referendum would only be open to residents within the district, meaning business owners would not have a vote.

The most-recently proposed sewer district includes properties in both the village of Millerton and the town of North East, but there are no residential properties that fall within the district covered by North East.

But as Barclay suggested, that possible impediment to the project could be avoided by holding enough public sessions and surveys to have a good idea as to how residents inside the water district would vote before the project is submitted to the Legislature for approval.

Such was the case in Red Hook, where the WWA had worked with village and town municipalities in submitting their applications and working with funding agencies to get the annual cost per household for a sewer district down to $765, a number the population could afford.

There are several similarities between the project in Red Hook and the one in Millerton and North East. The median household incomes are similar and their joint-municipality district mirrors the proposed project in this area. Red Hook’s district is also composed of a high percentage of commercial property. Their district ultimately cost $7.5 million, and was offset by a $3.4 million grant from Rural Development and a zero percent interest loan from Environmental Facilities Corporation.

However, the amount of funding Red Hook received for the project is not usual and the village and town would have to put together a convincing application to qualify for the same amount of grant money. One thing working in the project’s favor, as Flores pointed out, is that for the first time the Environmental Facilities Corporation is now able to award grant funding in addition to low percentage interest loans.

There was some concern from the board late into discussion that the proposed sewer district pandered only to the commercial district.

“I feel like too much emphasis is put on Main Street and the commercial areas,� said village Trustee Marty Markonic. He argued that the Sewer Committee recommended a district with only the bare minimum of residential units (51 percent) because anything more would mean more of a chance of the project being voted down by residents.

“This is being done for the commercial population and not for the people who live here,� village Trustee Debbie Middlebrook agreed.

At least Middlebrook and Markonic were in favor of looking into expanding the district to include a larger portion, if not all, of the village. While the cost of the project would shoot up, the cost per household might not, they reasoned, if more people shared the burden.

A good portion of the statistical information, which is needed to look into those possibilities, has already been collected, Flores said.

The next step, Barclay suggested, would be to possibly re-evaluate the service areas, primarily those within the village. It appeared that the proposed district lines within the town would remain the same.

Markonic asked Barclay if the project would be looked at more favorably by funding agencies if the whole village was included. Barclay said that was tough to answer.

“Serving just for the sake of serving is not going to benefit you,� she said. “But if there are on-site failing septic systems [on the additional properties], that could help.�

The boards then both passed resolutions making the Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority the project sponsor. The Town Board resolution was passed unanimously; Middlebrook was the sole voice of dissent on the Village Board.

Village Mayor John Scutieri said the board would continue discussing the project at its business meeting on Dec. 21.