Date: Fri 21-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewer-assessment-hearing

Full Text:

Hearings On Sewer Assessments Are Yielding Some Reductions

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

So far, Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) members have had about 30

individual meetings at which property owners presented reasons why their sewer

assessments should be reduced.

And more meetings are planned, said WPCA Chairman Richard Zang. Individual

sewer assessment sessions were scheduled for November 18 and 20 this week.

At upcoming sessions, lawyers representing property owners will be provided

with the methodology and rationale on which the sewer assessments are based,

Mr Zang said. The individual sewer assessment meetings largely concern

non-residential properties whose assessments vary greatly. Residential

assessments are standardized.

Sewer assessments represent property owners' share of the cost of building the

$34.3 million sewer system which was recently completed.

About half the sewer system capital costs are being covered by grant money

from state and federal sources. The other half will be covered through

individual sewer assessments and also by local taxpayers at large through

their town property tax payments.

Lesher and Glendinning Municipal Services, the appraisal firm which developed

the sewer assessments for residential and non-residential properties, is

compiling an accounting spreadsheet to illustrate to P&Z members the scope of

the requests for sewer assessment reductions, according to Mr Zang.

After all appeals have been made to the WPCA, its members will review the

requests and act on them, hopefully before the end of the year, Mr Zang said.

WPCA members plan to conduct another general public hearing at which property

owners with access to sewers will be able to ask questions about their

assessments. Such a hearing will satisfy a legal requirement that affected

people be given an opportunity to publicly discuss their assessments, he said.

Some property owners in the sewer district had not been formally notified of

such an assessment hearing, which was held in September.

People who raise questions about their sewer assessments at the upcoming

public hearing may schedule individual meetings with WPCA members, he said.

In some cases, there probably will be no reduction in sewer assessments after

the WPCA deliberates. In other cases, there may be some significant

reductions, Mr Zang noted.

Any sewer assessment cuts would be covered by town funding from a special

financial account set up for that purpose, he said.

So far, two churches -- St Rose of Lima and Trinity Episcopal Church -- have

had individual meetings with WPCA members about having their sewer assessments

lowered, Mr Zang said.

St Rose of Lima Church has a sewer assessment of $227,395, meaning it would

pay it off in 20 annual payments of $13,907, including principal and interest

on a two percent government-subsidized loan.

Trinity Episcopal Church has a sewer assessment of $106,799, meaning it would

pay it off in 20 annual payments of $6,532, including principal and interest

on a two percent subsidized loan.

Church representatives met with WPCA members in September to discuss several

churches' concerns that proposed sewer assessments would place an undue

financial burden on them.

WPCA members have said they realize that paying off the sewer assessments will

place financial burdens on property owners. But, the members have added, they

don't want to jeopardize the financing for the $34.3-million sewering project

by casually granting sewer assessment breaks.

Some people who have appealed their sewer assessments have two dwellings on

one building lot, Mr Zang said. Because they have two dwellings, the proposed

assessment is now double the normal residential assessment of $9,900, or

$19,800.

WPCA members must review such situations, he said, noting there are about a

dozen instances where there are two dwellings on one piece of land in the

sewer district.

With a standard residential sewer assessment of $9,900, residential property

owners will pay an annual assessment cost of approximately $600, including

principal and interest, for 20 years.

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.

So far, about half of the WPCA's individual meetings on sewer assessment

appeals have involved residential properties, Mr Zang said. The other half

have covered non-residential properties. The broad category "non-residential"

involves land used for business, commerce, industry, churches and public

buildings.

In reviewing possible sewer assessment reductions, WPCA members plan to

consider different classes of complaints in reaching their decisions, he said.

Such classes would include "residential" properties, "non-residential"

properties, and properties containing two dwellings on a single parcel.

Property owners who are not satisfied with the WPCA's final decision on their

sewer assessments may appeal the matter in Danbury Superior Court.

Hook-Ups

So far, relatively few properties have been connected to the sewer system.

Properties which connected include Newtown Shopping Center on Queen Street and

The Mary Hawley Inn on Main Street, as well as about ten homes scattered

throughout the sewer district, said John Whitten, senior filed representative

for Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the town's consulting engineering firm on the sewer

project. Houses which have connected to the sewer system are on South Main

Street and The Boulevard, as well as in Sandy Hook Center.

All four sewage pumping stations in the sewer system are now functional, Mr

Whitten said.

The new sewage treatment plant at the end of Commerce Road, which serves the

town and the state, is handling about 250,000 gallons of wastewater daily, he

said. The plant is designed to treat one million gallons of sewage daily.

The 250,000 gallons of sewage is coming from Fairfield Hills, Nunnawauk

Meadows, and the high-security Garner Correctional Institution.

Mr Whitten noted that Garner has a laundry, so a considerable amount of water

is used there and discharged into the sewer system. Also, groundwater finds

its way into the old sewer pipes which serve Fairfield Hills, increasing the

amount of wastewater that is channeled to the new treatment plant, he said.

After property owners receive their notices to connect, they have 120 days to

hook their wastewater drains to the sewer system. In certain cases, property

owners may be given up to 180 days to connect, based on individual

circumstances. Also, because winter weather is approaching, a "winter

shutdown" period will be put in force. During the shutdown, the deadline for

connecting to the sewer system will be suspended. The deadline will take

effect again after the winter shutdown period ends.

Mr Whitten said he expects some property owners will connect to the sewer

system during the winter shutdown just to get the job completed.

Mr Zang said he expects many property owners will start connecting to the

sewer system next spring.

It is expected that the more than 800 properties with access to sewers will be

connected by next September.

Connecting to the sewer system is an "out of pocket" expense that is totally

assumed by property owners because the privately-owned hookup lines are on

private property. The cost of connecting varies based on the complexity of the

hook-up.

In estimating the sewer system's operational costs in its first year, town

officials are making educated guesses. In the future, after the actual costs

of running the sewer system become known, sewer user costs will be more firmly

established. Operational costs include expenses such as the labor needed to

run and maintain the system, electricity needed to operate pumps and

equipment, and chemicals used in the sewage treatment process, among other

costs.