Date: Fri 09-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewers-assessment-WPCA

Full Text:

WPCA Hikes Sewer Assessment By $300

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

After considering comments made by Legislative Council members, the Water

Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) has increased the sewer assessement for

single-family residences by three percent, raising it from $9,600 to $9,900.

The increase came at a WPCA meetting Wednesday night, immediately following a

joint session of the council and the authority.

WPCA members approved the $9,900 figure in a 4-to-1 vote. Chairman Peter

Alagna and members Richard Zang, Tim Lachapelle and Gary Sheehan endorsed the

$9,600 figure. WPCA member Carl Zencey opposed it. WPCA member Alan Shepard,

who had attended the joint session, didn't attend the WPCA meeting. WPCA

member Eleanor Mayer attended neither the joint session not the WPCA meeting.

The 4-to-1 WPCA vote backing the $9,900 assessment overturns a 5-to-2 WPCA

vote in January which supported the $9,600 figure.

Wednesday night's action is the latest in a long series of decisions made by

the WPCA to determine what makes for a fair cost split between sewer users and

town taxpayers in covering the local share of construction costs for the $30.4

million municipal sewer system now being built.

The $9,900 sewer assessment represents the amount of loan principal which

property owners with single-family residences with sewers will pay back to the

town across a 20-year period, at a subsidized two percent annual interest

rate.

A $9,900 assessment compared to a $9,600 assessment means the sewer users will

pay the town back an additional $300 in loan principal across 20 years. The

difference translates into $15 annually in loan principal, and $18 annually in

principal plus interest costs, across the 20-year term of the loan.

At the the outset of the joint session, Mr Alagna cautioned council members

that WPCA members sometimes exhibit "passion" in defending their points of

view. Mr Alagna urged that the meeting not become a "volatile" and

"non-productive" session.

Mr Zang asked council members to guide the WPCA in setting the sewer

assessment. The WPCA had earlier selected a $9,600 assessment figure to

discourage costly lawsuits against the town that would be filed by property

owners who consider a $9,900 assessment too high, Mr Zang said.

Council member Melissa Pilchard said she has heard that some unidentified

taxpayers not served by sewers plan to file a "class action" lawsuit against

the town in response to being taxed for services they don't receive.

Town Attorney David Grogins said he expects that whether the sewer assessment

is set at $9,900 or $9,600 will mean little in terms of how many lawsuits are

filed against the town by property owners with access to sewers.

"We're talking about a very low number (of lawsuits). The exposure to the town

is minimal," he said.

Council member Jack Rosenthal had some blunt words for the WPCA members.

"You've been jerking around with this assessment for years," he said. The WPCA

has the authority to make the decision, Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Rosenthal said although he lives on Main Street and will be served by

sewers, whether the assesmsnt is $9,600 or $9,900 doesn't matter to him.

Besides the sewer assessment, he has to pay for sewers as a town taxpayer, has

to cover sewer hook-up charges, and has to pay sewer user fees, Mr Rosenthal

said. He said he paid $7,000 six years ago to fix his septic system which now

works fine. "My septic system is going to work longer than I'll live," he

said. Besides sewer costs, Mr Rosenthal said his property assessement recently

increased from $99,000 to to $174,000 in the revaluation of properties. Main

Street residents aren't getting any great deal in terms of sewer assessments,

he said.

"For God's sake WPCA, get it over with," he said, telling WPCA members he

doesn't want to have them coming back to the council every two months for

advice on sewer assessments.

Selectman James Mooney said "We're 23 people talking about $15 a year. It's

crazy. Why are we having this conversation?"

Mr Rosenthal told the WPCA "Set the damn assessment and don't come back to

us."

Council member Pierre Rochman expressed disappointment that the difference of

$300 across a 20-yer period had become such an issue.

Mr Rochman said "$9,900 is rock bottom."

Ms Pilchard said that after members of the council's finance committee had

heard last year that the difference between $9,900 and $9,600 in sewer

assessments amounted to an issue over the likeliehood of lawsuits being filed

against the town, finance committee members had decided to lower their

recommended sewer assessment from $11,200 to $9,900. The lawsuit matter now

appears to have been a false issue, she said.

Council Chairman Joseph Mahoney said he hopes that upcoming sewer assessments

for commercial properties aren't set so high that businesses will forced out

of town. He urged that sewer assesments be set which are fair to both

residential and commercial property owners.