{Q}Eagle News exclusive to the Chittenango-Bridgeport Times{Q}

Just seven days before a public vote on the $14 million proposed Bridgeport Sewer District project, an anonymous individual or individuals began delivering a four-page anti-project handout to homes in the Bridgeport/Lakeport area.

“A concerned citizen stopped and gave it to me at my home this afternoon,” said Supervisor John M. Becker Saturday March 21. “They are being stuck in doors along the lake.”

According to Becker that individual, whom he would not name, said he needs sewer service because his septic will soon need to be replaced and he doesn’t have a lot big enough to accommodate a new septic system.

Becker said he wasn’t surprised when he learned of the effort.

“I figured this was coming because some small-minded people along the lake don’t want sewers, and they have selective hearing,” Becker said, adamant that the document contained gross misinformation and misleading statements. “All of this stuff has been discussed and explained at the many meetings we’ve had regarding this project.”

In a point-by-point review of the document, Becker addressed what he described as negative propaganda by a vocal minority that wants to see the project fail.

Following are the major points of contention contained in the document, followed by the comments of town officials and engineers.

Hooking up contains hidden costs

“All the costs of hooking up will be picked up by the district, except to run the lines from the house to the grinder pump,” Becker said.

According to engineers Kenneth Knutsen and Christian Lawton of Barton & Loguidice Architects and Engineers, those grinder pumps will be located near the residence in order to have a readily available power supply.

Becker said the town is working to get nearly $500,000 in grant money to help those who cannot afford to hook up to the system do so. He said property owners in the district will have up to 24 months to hook up to the system, which would give residents some time to plan and save.

{Q}”Again, these are all things that have been publicly discussed at great length,” Becker said. “It is an outright lie that the town board has not made the public aware of the financial burden of this project. The cost per property owner will vary some, but we have told everyone up front what it would cost for the past four years that we’ve worked on this project.”{Q}

Power outage will render system unusable

Knutsen addressed this question repeatedly at meetings about twice a month for the last several months, Becker said, most recently at the March 4 public hearing.

“He never said the system could not be used during a power outage,” Becker said. “He stressed that people would have to conserve water, as they would in any emergency situation.”

The document also implies that sewer backflows into homes would be possible during power outages.

Knutsen and Lawton repeatedly explained the system of check valves built into the system to prevent backflows, avoiding problems experienced in nearby Cicero.

Cost overruns exceeding the $14 million loan will have a higher interest rate

“The project can’t go over $14 million [because of funding agency requirements], or there won’t be any project,” Becker said. “Since we’re getting a $14 million loan at 0 percent interest, I guess you could say, yes, anything else would likely be at a higher interest rate.”

Properties are under-assessed

“That was not my assertion, that was the state Office of Real Property Services,” Becker said. “I think our assessments are fine the way they are.”

Becker said at the March 4 meeting of the Sullivan Town Council that ORPS was pressuring towns to bring their assessments up to 100 percent and recently issued Sullivan correspondence indicating the town’s assessment rate was only at 80, having dropped 7 percent over the past year.

“And I never once said the installation of sewers would increase property values,” Becker said.

Health of the lake not endangered

“I can’t comment on the alleged opinion of Dr. Mills’ alluded to in this handout,” Becker said.

During the past year, however, several representatives from the state and county Departments of Health and the state Department of Environmental Conservation have attended Sullivan Town Council meetings and expressed concerns about the impact of failing septic systems on Oneida Lake.

Sewers won’t promote commercial growth

Becker said the Harbor Lights Business Park is not zoned for retail.

“But the hamlet of Bridgeport is,” Becker said. “These people desperately need a grocery store, and we have someone who wants to bring one here.”

Everything needed by residents is available in Cicero, Clay or within a five- to 10-minute drive

“Why would anyone want to go to Cicero and Clay and give Onondaga County our sales tax money?” Becker asked. “What you spend here, stays here, and as the largest town in the county, we get the greatest amount of sales tax revenue from purchases made in the county. It makes no sense to take your spending power to another county and do nothing to help yourself here.”

New septic same price as proposed project

Becker said there will be no maintenance or upgrade costs.

“As we have explained repeatedly, all the costs of maintenance and upgrades are included in the total projected cost of $828 per unit per year,” Becker said. “If you have to put in a new septic system, it’s going to cost you $25,000 to $30,000 up front in optimum conditions, and if you can’t afford to pay cash up front, you’re going to have to take out a loan. And I guarantee that loan won’t be at 0 percent interest.”

That $828 figure is the worst case scenario, according to engineers working on the project. Additional grant money that will reduce the per-unit cost is still likely, town officials said.

Suburban sprawl imminent

Becker said the town has invested $30,000 in a study for the Route 31 corridor to prevent just such a scenario.

“The people in Bridgeport and Lakeport have been very clear that they don’t want to lose their wide-open spaces and rural character of their communities,” Becker said. “We undertook that Smart Growth Study so that we wouldn’t become another Cicero.”

A Smart Growth Study committee consisting of residents, members of the planning and zoning boards, Councilman John Brzuszkiewicz and engineers have been working with the data collected to decide if zoning changes will be required to protect the character of the area.

People should report failing septic systems

“Make sure to sign your name when you leave the complaint against your neighbor,” Becker said.

Financial aid is available for those with failing systems

According to Becker, no such help is available.

“Those are normal, routine property maintenance costs expected to be borne by a homeowner,” Becker said.

Becker said the final page of the document accuses the town council of lying and excluding residents, contains misinformation about the impact of the proposed Harbor Towne Development, misquotes information about the requirements of Sylvan Beach and misleads people to believe if they vote for the project and it is turned down by the Office of the State Comptroller, they still will have to pay for the project, even though they won’t have sewers.

“No one on the town council has lied to anyone, at least not since I’ve been on the board, and we never will,” Becker said. “We want to get everyone up there hooked up as soon as possible. We removed the Harbor Towne’s expected contribution of about a half-million dollars worth of pipe and a pump station because we figured if something went wrong, we didn’t want to end up with any surprise costs. We know exactly what we’re looking at before any grants are applied to the costs, and when those units go in, we’ll put them on the town system, and like any other additional units added, it should help bring down the costs for the people already hooked up.”

The work being performed by engineers to isolate and repair inflows and infiltrations to the East Sullivan Sewer District were discussed during the regular meeting of the town board March 4 after the public hearing was closed, Becker said.

“If people had stayed through the whole meeting, they would have been there for that discussion and the board’s approving the expense to do the necessary work,” Becker said. “And I would like to point out yet again that this work was supposed to have been done 10 years ago.”

According to Becker, engineers recently spent from midnight to 5 a.m. one day earlier this month checking flow rates around the ESSD. That work is helping to identify and remediate problems with I&I, he said.

Finally, Becker said if the OSC vetoes the project, there is no district and thus no cost to residents.

“There can’t be a district without the approval of the OSC if it goes over the cost threshold [of $739 per unit],” Becker said.

If the project is voted down March 28, the town will have expended about $100,000 in studies and engineering to bring the project to that point of completion, Becker said. Town attorney Donald Colella and representatives from Barton & Loguidice will be available at Bridgeport Elementary School during the polling hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to answer voters’ questions.

The town council will hold its next regular meeting April 1 at 7 p.m. at town hall.

For more information, call the supervisor’s office at 687-9190.