In just a few weeks, on May 2, the town may have the opportunity to vote on the creation of a town center sewer district. Two articles are required: a home rule petition creating the framework for a sewer district and commission and a debt authorization to finance the sewer project. The simplicity of these two articles lies in stark contrast to the complexity of the project. After months of work, the Town Center Sewer Action Group has developed a recommended plan for a low-pressure sewer system to serve the town center, along with upgrades to the Mass. Ave. wastewater treatment facility needed to manage peak flows in an expanded system and address some wastewater processing difficulties.
This vote is an opportunity to bring resolution to a 20-year-old question. While change in the determination of required capacity eliminated the need for the treatment plant expansion envisioned in 2005 and the selection of a lower cost collection system have reduced costs, the project still has a $1.87 million price tag. The plan is not, as some fear, a septic solution for town center residents, businesses, institutions, and municipal buildings to be subsidized by the general taxpayer. Town center residents who support the project will do so with the knowledge that they will bear most of the capital costs for the collection system and the entire project. The projected betterment assessment per single family home served by this system to recover the capital costs of construction is $22,000, with additional costs for individual grinder pumps and connection charges. Taxpayers will bear the proportionate cost of serving the Town Hall, Hildreth House, and the old library and the cost to upgrade the nitrogen processing capability of the treatment plant. Despite these capital costs to the town, it stands to gain by sharing the ongoing operating expenses so that after start-up period of several years where the cost per taxpayer may increase several tens of dollars per year they can look forward to an ongoing reduction of a few tens of dollars per year.
The TCSAG has posted a great deal of information on the town website. The report to the selectmen, a draft district and service area map, the latest spreadsheet financial model, a draft home rule petition, and property information summary are all posted there. The TCSAG will broadcast recorded public informational meetings and question-and-answer sessions on cable and will distribute DVD copies at a number of locations around town. The group has also just launched a regular e-mail newsletter providing ongoing updates. Citizens can request the e-mail newsletter on the town website. Despite this effort, some uncertainties will remain. For example, actual financing options can’t be determined until the process has started and applications are made, final engineering designs have yet to be completed, and governance structure remains to be established.
The difficulty in confronting this decision is having the confidence that once a vote is taken to create a sewer district and authorize the financing, the assumptions and projections underlying the vote will endure going forward. To provide this needed assurance, the TCSAG is drafting a set of guiding principles that provides continuity and financial circuit breakers that interrupt the process if key cost measures are exceeded during implementation. If the articles pass at Town Meeting, the TCSAG recommends that when the Board of Selectmen appoints its transitional implementation committee, these principals and safety limits be an integral part of their charge. If we vote at Town Meeting on May 2 to resolve the town center sewer question, we can do so with confidence that our intent will be fully honored.
Chris Ashley is chairman of the Town Center Sewer Action Group.
