Date: Fri 22-Dec-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewers-assessment-Alagna

Full Text:

WPCA Split On Sewer Assessment Figure

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

After lengthy discussion at a sometimes heated session, Water Pollution

Control Authority (WPCA) members have let stand their $9,600 residential sewer

assessment, turning back a push by Chairman Peter Alagna to increase the

assessment by three percent to $9,900.

WPCA members discussed the controversial topic for about 90 minutes December

18, failing to agree on the ultimate size of the assessment.

In August, WPCA members set the sewer assessment at $9,600 for residences in

the sewer district having up to four bedrooms. The WPCA planned to levy higher

sewer assessments for residences with more than four bedrooms.

At a recent meeting, two members of the Legislative Council's finance

committee endorsed a $9,900 residential sewer assessment. Committee members

Joseph McGowan and Pierre Rochman, however, said that $9,900 amount should be

a flat residential charge and that no surcharges should be levied on houses

with more than four bedrooms.

Stressing the WPCA's need to cooperate with the Legislative Council in setting

the sewer assessment, Mr Algana urged that WPCA members endorse a $9,900

assessment.

But WPCA member Richard Zang said he's "not comfortable" increasing the

assessment from $9,600 to $9,900.

The assessment is the amount of money that a residential property owner in the

sewer district will pay back the town over a 20 year period to cover the

construction costs of the sewer system now under construction. Property owners

will be able to obtain federally-subsidized loans at a two percent annual

interest rate to pay off their sewer assessments.

Mr Alagna said the WPCA had once endorsed $9,900 as the sewer assessment.

"No, no, no, no. It ($9,900) was considered with a lot of other numbers," WPCA

member Alan Shepard responded emphatically.

Mr Alagna said the methodology which the WPCA had used to develop the $9,600

residential sewer assessment no longer applies. The assessment process was

keyed to the number of bedrooms in a residence, with four bedrooms being the

standard. An appraisal firm evaluating the sewer assessment matter for the

town has found that homes with more than four bedrooms won't necesssarily have

proportionally higher market values than four-bedroom homes when sewers become

available, Mr Alagna said.

Of the 567 resdiences in the sewer district, 55 of them have more than four

bedrooms.

A Political Conflict

Whenever the WPCA comes up with a "reasonable" residential sewer assessment,

the matter becomes "political," said WPCA member Gary Sheehan.

The WPCA's actions are being judged on the basis of other agencies' budgets,

he said.

"I don't know why there's such an impasse. Everytime we pass a number,

somebody wants another number," Mr Sheehan said.

Of his drive for a $9,900 assessment, Mr Alagna said "It may seem like we

wavered. Let it seem like we wavered. This is a democratic process."

The WPCA can change its mind and raise the assessment to $9,900, he said.

If the WPCA endorses a $9,900 assessment, it will help it gain support from

the Legislative Council for the sewer assessment process, he said.

Mr Zang then said he would endorse a $9,900 assesment, but added that

approving such a number poses risks.

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

consulting engineers, said that the difference between charging a residential

property owner a $9,600 assessment or a $9,900 assessment involves a payment

of $18 per owner per year across a 20-year period.

Mr Sheehan, however, said that increasing the assessment to $9,900 shifts a

financial burden to lower-value houses in the sewer district, resulting in

lower value properties subsidizing those with higher values in terms of paying

for sewer system construction.

In response to a question on why each residence in the sewer district isn't

individually appraised to set sewer assessments, Mr Zang said WPCA members

decided in the past to set fixed assessments to avoid the highly bureaucratic

assessment process which induividual appraisals would create.

Mr Algana said he doesn't know that WPCA members will ever come up with any

better assessment process than they have so far.

Mr Shepard then said "I'm losing confidence in certain things. I'm losing

confidence in the way things are done. I'm losing confidence in the way things

are presented."

Mr Alagna stressed that the WPCA has discussed the residential sewer

assessment process in an "open forum" for a long time.

Mr Sheehan observed that while the $9,600 assessment figure is the highest one

the WPCA should endorse, the $9,900 figure is the lowest figure that some

Legislative Council finance committee members will support.

Mr Shepard expressed displeasure at how the sewer assessment process has

evolved.

Mr Alagna told WPCA members that unless they boost the assessment to $9,600,

the Legislative Council will seek even a higher figure.

Mr Zang said that until commercial sewer assesments are set sometime in the

future, it will be too early for the council to consider the residential

assessments.

Besides payments by property owners with sewers, part of the sewer system's

construction costs will be covered by the town's taxpayers through annual

municipal budgets. The Legislative Concil functions as the town's finance

board.

Motion

Mr Zang then made a motion seeking to have the WPCA go on record and reaffirm

its $9,600 residential sewer assessment.

Mr Alagna, however, said the WPCA should remain silent on the topic.

Mr Sheehan said the council is looking at the assessmsnt issue in terms of the

municipal tax rate. The WPCA's $9,600 assessment is justifiable, he said.

At that point, WPCA member Carl Zencey entered the meeting room, joining

member Eleanor Mayer and the four other members who were already present.

Mr Alagna said the WPCA has been considering the assessment topic for about

eight years.

"I'm all talked out," Mr Alagna said.

Mr Zang, however, pressed again for a WPCA vote on his motion to reaffirm the

$9,600 assessment.

Mr Alagna said he would like to have the WPCA's full membership of seven vote

on the matter. WPCA member Tim Lachapelle didn't attend the meeting.

Mr Shepard then said "I'm not going to be silent on this (sewer assessment

process) until this is resolved satisfactorily."

WPCA members then tabled Mr Zang's motion.

The town is building a $30.4 million sewer system to comply with a state order

to rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by failing

septic systems in the Borough, Taunton Pond North, and Sandy Hook Center.