Date: Fri 05-Sep-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-assessments

Full Text:

WPCA Slates Hearing On Sewer Assessments

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Property owners in the sewer district soon will receive their sewer

assessments by mail, reflecting their share of the cost of building the

municipal sewer system.

Property owners who have questions about their residential and non-residential

sewer assessments may attend a Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) public

hearing Thursday, September 11, at 7:30 pm at Newtown Middle School

auditorium, 11 Queen Street.

At the same location at 7:15 pm, the WPCA has scheduled a public hearing on a

technical matter concerning bonding for the sewer construction project.

An appraisal firm has calculated a list of sewer assessments for residential

and non-residential properties in the sewer district.

The sewer assessments represent the amount of money that property owners with

access to sanitary sewers will pay across a 20-year period, plus interest, to

cover some capital costs of sewer system construction. Sewer users will pay

off their loans at a federally-subsidized two percent annual interest rate.

The sewer assessments don't include the recurring payments which sewer users

will make to discharge wastewater into the sewer system, or the cost of

physically connecting their wastewater drains to the system.

Besides the capital costs which sewer users will cover, local property

taxation will subsidize some capital costs.

Also, the town will cover the various capital and operational costs of

providing sewer service to ten town-owned buildings within the sewer district.

Residential

The WPCA has set residential sewer assessments, as a class, at $9,900.

To avoid the sheer complexity of individually estimating the specific market

value that access to sewers would add to hundreds of individual houses, the

WPCA opted to set residential sewer assessments as a class.

The $9,900 figure, also known as the "net benefit," is the amount of money

which residential property owners with access to sewers will pay back to the

town, plus interest, across a 20-year period.

With a "level debt repayment" method, the annual payment, including interest,

across 20 years would be roughly $600.

Property owners probably would be billed semiannually, meaning they would get

a sewer assessment bill every six months for about $300.

Sewer-use bills would be due quarterly.

About 700 homes will connect to the sewer system. The residential users are

scattered throughout central Newtown, ranging from Riverside Road to West

Street, and from Diamond Drive to Mile Hill Road.

Non-Residential

Some 126 non-residential properties will have access to sewers.

Non-residential sewer assessments cover properties such as businesses and

industries, public buildings, churches, schools, two firehouses and the

ambulance garage.

Most of the sewer system's non-residential users are located on a handful of

streets. They are: Church Hill Road, Commerce Road, Glen Road, Main Street,

South Main Street, Queen Street and Riverside Road.

Non-residential sewer assessments vary widely, depending upon the nature the

property's use. The non-residential sewer assessments reflect 90 percent of

the increase in estimated appraised real estate market value that sewer access

will add to those properties.

Non-residential sewer assessments generally are much higher than residential

sewer assessments.

For example, the Newtown Forest Association has a sewer assessment of $12,003

on its property at 13 Castle Hill Road, meaning it would pay $734 annually,

including principal and interest, to repay the town its share of the capital

costs of sewer construction.

St John's Episcopal Church at 5 Washington Avenue has a sewer assessment of

$34,389, meaning an annual payment of $2,103, including principal and

interest.

The Southern New England Telephone Company at 9 Queen Street has a sewer

assessment of $68,534, meaning an annual payment of $4,192, including

principal and interest.

The Newtown United Methodist Church Corporation at 92 Church Hill Road has an

assessment of $95,064, requiring an annual payment, including principal and

interest, of $5,814.

TUV Rheinland of North America, Inc, of 12 Commerce Road has a sewer

assessment of $188,480, meaning an annual payment including principal and

interest of $11,527.

Eton Centers Company, the owner of the Grand Union supermarket complex at 5

Queen Street, has a sewer assessment of $497,480, meaning an annual payment

including principal and interest of $30,426.

Lesher-Glendinning Municipal Services, a firm which performs appraisals for

cities and towns, prepared the residential and non-residential sewer

assessments. Lesher-Glendinning also performed the town's last revaluation of

properties.

Property owners who aren't satisfied with the WPCA's explanations of their

sewer assessments may schedule individual hearings for October with the WPCA.

Property owners may appeal the WPCA's final decisions in Danbury Superior

Court.

The town is under a state Department of Environmental Protection order to

rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems in Newtown Borough,

Taunton Pond North, and Sandy Hook Center.

Construction of a $34.3-million sewer system began in November 1994. The

sewage treatment plant went into operation Tuesday.