Date: Fri 02-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

WPCA-sewers-assessment

Full Text:

WPCA Sticks To It's Assessment Formula

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Peter Alagna, in what he

termed "one last ditch effort," urged WPCA members January 25 to consider

raising the sewer assessment for residential properties from $9,600 to $9,900.

But after discussion, the four members of the seven-member WPCA who were

present at the session opted against voting on the topic, in effect, letting

the WPCA's $9,600 sewer assessment stand.

Besides Mr Alagna, WPCA members Richard Zang, Tim Lachapelle and Carl Zencey

attended the January 25 meeting.

At a January 11 session when all seven WPCA members were in attendance,

members voted 5-to-2 to maintain the panel's August 1995 endorsement of a

$9,600 residential sewer assessment. On January 11, those supporting a $9,600

assessment were: Mr Zencey, Mr Zang, Gary Sheehan, Alan Shepard and Eleanor

Mayer. Those backing the $9,900 figure were Mr Alagna and Mr Lachapelle.

Mr Alagna told the four WPCA members January 25 he is "dismayed" by the

panel's action at the January 11 meeting.

"It defies logic," he said.

Mr Alagna said that although he presented facts to show that $9,900 is a

better sewer assessment figure than $9,600, the clear majority of members

voted to back the $9,600 number.

When WPCA members voted last August to support a $9,600 assessment, that

number applied to homes with four bedrooms or fewer. A proportionally higher

assessment would have been charged to homes with more than four bedrooms.

However, since then, the WPCA's consultant on sewer assessments,

Lesher-Glendinning Muncipal Services, has indicated that levying assessments

higher than $9,600 for homes with more than four bedrooms isn't defensible in

court cases, Mr Alagna noted.

As such, Mr Alagna said he would find it difficult to defend a $9,600

residential sewer assessment before members of the Legislative Council.

Although the WPCA has the statutory power to set the sewer assessments, Mr

Alagna has stressed the need for the WPCA to cooperate with the council in

establishing the assessments. The council functions as the town's finance

board.

Seeking to have the council back a $9,600 residential assessment would make

for a "confrontational and polarizing" relationship between the WPCA and the

council, Mr Alagna said.

"I'll make one more pitch for $9,900. We'll be lucky if they (council members)

agree to $9,900," he said, pointing out that some council members would like

to have the sewer assessment set much higher than $9,900.

The residential sewer assessment is the amount of money that residential

property owners will pay the town over a 20-year period to cover a portion of

the cost of building the town's $30.4-million sewer system. Loans at a

subsidized two percent annual interest rate will be available to residential

property owners.

Other portions of the sewer system's capital costs will be covered by town

taxpayers through the tax rate and by sewer construction grants awarded to the

town.

Of the sewer construction expenses to be covered locally, sewer users will

cover about two-thirds of the capital costs and town taxpyers pay for the

remaining third.

At a meeting of the Legislative Council's finance committee last fall, two

finance committee members told Mr Alagna they were willing to endorse a $9,900

residential sewer assessment but wouldn't back a $9,600 figure.

WPCA members and the council are planning to meet at an upcoming council

session to discuss the residential sewer assessment issue.

Mr Lachapelle said he would reconsider the assessment figure only if all seven

members of the WPCA were present.

Mr Zang said he welcomes a meeting with the council members to air the

assessment topic, noting the WPCA is divided on the matter.

Mr Alagna said that when the town received a pollution abatement order from

the state that ordered the town to rectify local groundwater pollution

problems, the town was facing a $56 million sewering project, not the $30.4

million project it faces today.

"We worked so hard to bring all these costs down," he said.

Mr Alagna said he finds it ironic that the WPCA will now face the Legislative

Council to deal with an assessment issue centering on a difference of $300

spread across a 20-year period.

The difference between a $9,600 and $9,900 assessment translates into $15 more

annually in principal payments across a 20-year period. When interest charges

are included, the amount increases to $18 annually.

Of the WPCA's upcoming meeting with the Legislative Council, Mr Alagna said

"This is going to be confrontational...It's going to be a war."

"I just don't want to polarize the council and the WPCA," he said.

Mr Zang said he considered it "not appropriate" for the WPCA to change its

residential sewer assessment at the January 25 session. He suggested that the

WPCA seek guidance from the council in setting the assessment.