Date: Fri 08-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-assessments-commercial

Full Text:

with assessment tables:

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

An appraisal firm has calculated a partial list of preliminary sewer

assessments for non-residential properties in the sewer district.

The sewer assessments represent the amount of money that non-residential

property owners with access to sanitary sewers will pay across a 20-year

period, plus interest, to cover some capital costs of municipal 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 money which sewer users will pay to

discharge waste water into the sewer system, or the cost of physically

connecting their wastewater drains to the system.

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 customers include municipally-owned buildings, churches,

businesses and industries.

The non-residential sewer assessments reflect 90 percent of the increase in

appraised real estate market values that sewer access will add to those

properties, according to Peter Alagna, chairman of the town's Water Pollution

Control Authority (WPCA).

(These sewer assessments are shown in the accompanying tables beneath the

heading "net benefit." The net benfits reflect how much money owners of

non-residential properties with access to sewers will pay across a 20-year

period for sewer system construction, plus two-percent annual interest costs).

The sewer assessments don't reflect 100 percent of the appraised increase in

real estate market values in order to provide the town with a 10 percent

"comfort zone" or "cushion" in calculating the sewer assessments, Mr Alagna

said.

The non-residential sewer assessments account for more than $7 million of the

overall $34.3 million in bonding approved by voters in 1992 for sewer system

construction.

Of the $7 million in non-residential sewer assessments, more than $1.3 million

covers municipally-owned properties, such as town offices and public schools.

The accompanying table doesn't include the town's multipurpose center or the

Sandy Hook Firehouse, both of which are on Riverside Road.

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

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

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

The Church Question

At a recent meeting, WPCA members considered a proposal to give churches a

discount on their sewer assessments.

But determining what constitutes a "church" or "house of worship" could open

up a "can of worms" for the WPCA in deciding who is and who isn't eligible to

receive a sewer assessment discount, Mr Alagna cautions.

In the past, Mr Alagna has suggested that churches be given assessment

discounts. But he now says he has reservations about such discounts.

Other WPCA members, though, noted that the churches' sewer assessments are

among the highest sewer assessments to be levied by the town, saying discounts

should be considered.

Whether churches should get assessment discounts should be decided by the

Legislative Council, according to WPCA member Gary Sheehan. The council would

have to review it because any assessment discounts granted by the town would

increase the local property tax rate across a 20-year period, according to Mr

Sheehan.

"My inclination is to treat everyone equally," Mr Alagna said, adding that

providing preferred treatment to certain organizations such as churches could

put the WPCA into "compromising situations."

John Valente of Lesher-Glendinning recommended that WPCA members get legal

advice about sewer assessment discounts for properties which are exempt from

property taxes, such as churches.

The aggregate sewer assessment for all church properties in the sewer district

exceeds $600,000, excluding financing charges.

An Explanation

WPCA member Richard Zang urged that members formulate a clear regulation to

explain how the WPCA arrived at the various non-residential sewer assessments.

He stressed that the assessments are not based upon how much wastewater

various properties will discharge down their drains.

Peter Grose, the sewer project manager for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the town's

consulting engineer, asked that Lesher-Glendinning provide the town with a

list explaining the land use at each of the properties on the non-residential

sewer assessment list, such as: store, factory, restaurant, school, church,

and so forth.

Mr Valente said he will provide the town with sewer assessments for about 20

properties which haven't yet been placed on the assessment list.

Earlier this year, after wrangling for months, WPCA members set residential

sewer assessments at $9,900 for each of the almost 700 homes that will connect

to the sewer system. The residential share of sewer system capital costs is

roughly $7 million.

Unlike residential customers which are all charged the same sewer assessment,

non-residential customers are charged widely varying assessments because

non-residential properties' access to sewers will create widely varying

increases in those properties' potential market values.

Town taxpayers will cover about $4 million of construction costs for the sewer

system at large. Beyond that, town taxpayers also will cover the sewer

assessments, sewer connection charges, and sewer user costs for

municipally-owned buildings lying within the sewer district.

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

rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems in the borough, Taunton

Pond North, and Sandy Hook Center. The sewer system is expected to be

completed in about a year. Construction began in November 1994.