Allenstown News : sewer

Allenstown sewer fix is back up for a vote

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:36:00 GMT

BY GINGER KOZLOWSKI

Allenstown residents will only have to spend one day approving the ballots for both town and school votes, as the deliberative sessions for both Town Meeting and School District Meeting will take place one after the other on Saturday, Jan. 31.

The deliberative session of Town Meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Allenstown Elementary School. While the deliberative session of School District Meeting has been set for various times over the past two weeks, it would be safest to say it will simply take place once the Town Meeting finishes.

Voting on warrant articles and candidates will take place March 10.

Town
There are 22 articles on the town warrant. The first two are zoning questions, which will not be discussed at the Jan. 31 session. The third refers to those up for election.

Article 4 asks the town for $1,550,000 to finance an increase in the town’s wastewater treatment facility. Half this cost, $775,000 is to be paid by the town of Pembroke, which shares use of the facility. The article states $50,000 would come from fund balance. A three-fifths majority is required for this article to pass, which is recommended by the selectmen and Budget Committee.

Article 5 addresses the town operating budget. The proposed budget comes to $5,338,981. If defeated, a default budget of $5,125,931 would go into effect.

Articles 6 through 19 ask for various amounts to fund capital reserve funds and purchases for police, fire and highway equipment, as well as landfill closure costs and repairs to the Town Hall roof.

Article 20 asks that the road agent become an appointed position, rather than elected.

The final two articles were petitioned. Article 21 asks the town to enact a spending cap for the town and school budgets, setting a maximum annual increase of 2 percent from the previous year’s tax assessment.

Article 22 asks that voters approve a resolution stating that the property tax is unjust and unfair, calls on elected officials to reject the “Pledge,” which promises not to enact sales or income taxes, and to adopt a revenue system that is just and fair.

School
There are five warrant articles to be considered by voters at the deliberative session of School District Meeting.

Article 1 asks for an operating budget of $9,993,048.

Should the article be defeated, the default budget would be set at $9,978,048, a figure that is $144,89 lower than the proposed budget.

Article 2 asks for $41,026 to pay for salary increases agreed to in the collective bargaining agreement between the Allenstown School Board and the Allenstown Paraprofessional Association for the 2009-10 school year.

Article 3 asks for up to $10,000 to be taken from surplus and put in the Building Maintenance Trust Fund. This would not affect the tax rate.

Article 4 askes for up to $10,000 to be taken from surplus and added to the Facilities Acquisition Capital Reserve Fund. This would not affect the tax rate either.

Sewer stalls development

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:34:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

After Allenstown voters shot down the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Plant’s $15 million expansion for the second year in a row, sewer commissioners and the plant’s operator said they are back at square one.

Sewer Commissioner James Rodger said harsh economic times led to tighter wallets this year, which led to the town’s “no” vote for not just the expansion but every single cost item on the warrant this year.

“When the ship sank, our warrant was on it,” Rodger said.

Amendment caused failure Rodger also said a stipulation added to the warrant article at the town’s deliberative session on Feb. 2 made the article worthless.

An amendment passed at that meeting added wording that would not allow the project to go forward unless 50 percent matching grants were secured. The problem with that, Rodger said, is the town needed to say it will pay the project costs up front in order to secure such grants that would reimburse the town.

A Feb. 12 e-mail from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Department, one of the agencies being largely considered as a source of grant funding for the project, said the 50 percent contingency added to the article would hurt Allenstown’s chances for funding.

The e-mail, addressed to Michael Trainque of Hoyle, Tanner and Associates, the engineering firm spearheading the expansion project, states limits on the availability of funds may prevent them from providing 50 percent in grants to the project and would compel USDA Rural Development to give it to another project instead.

“Fifteen million (dollars) is a large improvement project,” Rural Development Specialist Scott Johnson wrote in the email. “Rural Development looks forward to being involved if possible.

If Allenstown anticipates securing any grant funds from Rural Development, placing limits on how much of the total project is loan or grant could box them in a corner, rendering them unable to accept monies that may be available.

“Our advice to communities is to vote to borrow the RD portion of the project costs so that they are able to accept grant funds that may be offered to them. Too many times we have seen projects come to a halt due to an inadequate bond vote,” Johnson said.

Grant money can’t come in for the project until construction is done and the town is ready to make payments, said plant operator Dana Clement.

“You can’t put the cart before the horse,” Clement said. “You can’t even make an application to them until the project is complete. You have to spend the money and then they reimburse you.”

Pembroke’s side
A brief discussion on how the failed article would affect Pembroke, where most voters want the expansion to go through, came out of discussion on Pembroke’s sewer rates for the coming year at their Town Meeting on Saturday, March 15.

Pembroke Sewer Commissioner Harold Thompson said he could not comment at this time on what “Plan B” is for Pembroke, but said his commission is working with Allenstown to set up a public meeting with the two sewer commissions, the Department of Environmental Services and Allenstown selectmen.

More stringent rules Forthcoming studies on the Merrimack River may compel the plant’s upgrades in order to comply with possibly more stringent water cleansing standards, Clement said.

The state is also looking at tightening the standards for phosphorous and nitrogen concentrations in the Merrimack.

Should both of these scenarios come to pass in the next several years, the current plant is incapable of handling the new standards, Clement said. The expansion plans already drawn up would have accommodated such changes, he said.

Rodger said the Sewer Commission will continue its efforts to pass the expansion by continuing the public information sessions on the issue and creating a packet of information to go door-to-door with.

Development held up Both towns have commercial and residential developers waiting for sewer hook-ups, according to Rodger and Thompson.

The U.S. Army wants to put a training facility at a large parcel off of Route 106, Thompson said.

“I’ve got probably about $10 million worth of buildings wanting to go in Pembroke,” he said.

Rodger said several projects, including a retirement community and the possible expansion of the strip mall at 48 Allenstown Road, which includes a Family Dollar, Kutter’s Korner and Curves for Women, have been shelved in the past few years because of a lack of sewer capacity.

If the state steps in to mandate upgrades to comply with the new cleaner water standards, sewer users rates are going to go up, and there won’t be added capacity, Rodger said.

“We’re going to have to do it on the backs of sewer users, and we won’t get any flow out of it,” Rodger said. “To upgrade the plant just to satisfy new requirements, how much is that going to cost us? We might as well get some capacity out of it.”

Sewer bond proposal back

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:08:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

Allenstown sewer officials are again working on a $15 million plan to dramatically upgrade the wastewater treatment plant that serves the town and neighboring Pembroke. They said the plan will likely be ready for a vote next March.

The state Department of Environmental Services halted all new hookups to the plant – which has been reaching its maximum flow capacity regularly since 2002 – last year.

On Monday, May 7, Allenstown Selectman Tom Gilligan urged sewer officials to use “simple math” to market the $15 million plan.

Sewer officials contend Pembroke would be responsible for about 52 percent – or $7.8 million – of the cost of the sewer upgrade. And the sewer commission’s engineer, Michael Trainque, of Hoyle Tanner and Associates, said he’s hopeful more than 50 percent of the project’s costs could be covered by a combination of grant money.

Thus the end cost to Allenstown’s taxpayers could be far less than the $15 million price tag, which will undoubtedly cause some sticker shock, said Gilligan.

“Three-and-a-half or $3 million is a lot easier to stomach than $15 million,” he said.

Trainque said the design hasn’t wavered much from the $15 million plan offered to voters in March of this year in a defective warrant article. The warrant article was deemed “defective” by a town attorney since it didn’t include any recommendation from selectmen, a necessary step for municipal bond requests, according to state law.

Selectmen Chairman Sandy McKenney has maintained she didn’t want to vote on whether to recommend the plan in March because it was so pricey and she wanted to leave the decision up to voters.

Despite the “defect” – and a “no” recommendation from the town’s budget committee printed on the ballot – 164 residents did vote in favor of the plan, compared to 350 “no” votes.

Allenstown Sewer Commission Chairman James Rodger said soon after the last election that he saw all the “yes” votes as a small sign of encouragement for the plan, especially with all the confusion leading to the vote.

Sewer officials and selectmen also seem to agree that the cost of upgrading the plant will only increase with time, especially if that upgrade stems from a lawsuit from neighboring Pembroke or mandates from state and/or federal environmental agencies.

Trainque said the upgrades are not a question of “if,” but “when.”

Said the plant’s superintendent, Dana Clement, “We’re required to take (Pembroke’s) flow, so they’re just going to sue us.”

But McKenney warned that the sewer plan, by nature, will be a tough sell locally. She said she’s heard from both sewer rate payers and people with private septic. The rate payers don’t feel they should have to foot all of the bill, she said, and non-rate payers wonder why they should have to contribute to the project.

So no matter how the town proposes to repay its share of the bond, she said, “You have this little war going on.”

Sewer officials said they hope to soon begin informational sessions about the current plant and its potential upgrades.

They also said they hope to offer informational CD-ROMs or DVDs than can provide tours of the plant. Several officials joked about the odor of the current plant.

“Get a little scratch and sniff that goes with that CD,” said selectmen’s administrative assistant Kelley Collins.

Allenstown sewer article killed

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:29:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

A $15 million plan to double the capacity at the Suncook Wastewater Treatment Plant may be dead on its arrival at the upcoming deliberative session of Allenstown’s Town Meeting.

Town Administrator Kelley Collins said a bond attorney for the town has informed selectmen that the warrant article is defective since it doesn’t include a recommendation from the board.

The $15 million question will remain on the warrant since it was already publicly posted, said Collins, but a “yes” vote in March won’t set the plan in action.

“According to the bond counsel, they couldn’t issue bonds based on that defect in the warrant article,” Collins said.

The recommendation from selectmen would be needed to satisfy a state statute outlining how to present a bond request in excess of 10 percent of what’s being recommended by the budget committee at an annual Town Meeting.

In a split vote, the budget committee previously voted not to recommend the plan for the plant upgrade.

Selectmen also previously voted 2-1 to not post a recommendation on the warrant article. Selectmen’s Chairman Sandy McKenney has said selectmen in favor of withholding a recommendation didn’t want to influence voters one way or another on the $15 million request.

McKenney couldn’t be reached by press time. The state Department of Environmental Services placed a moratorium on new hookups to the plant – which is at maximum capacity – in 2005. The Town of Pembroke would have been responsible for just over half the cost of the plant upgrade, according to an agreement signed between the neighboring town’s sewer commissions last year.

Allenstown Sewer Commission Chairman James Rodger said Allenstown would have ultimately – given some successful grant applications – been responsible for about $3.5 million of the plant upgrade.

Rodger said he wasn’t overly confident about the plant renovation plan passing this year, but said he’d hoped it could have been a good year to start a dialogue with voters about the plant’s issues.

“Now I think it was all a waste of time,” Rodger said. “Yes, (the warrant article) is going to be there, but it doesn’t really mean anything.”

Rodger said it’s difficult to get people rallied behind any plan with such a hefty price tag. “The fact that the budget committee didn’t pass (a recommendation) and the selectmen didn’t give a recommendation shows me the issue is a hot potato,” Rodger said.

The deliberative session of Allenstown’s Town Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, at 10 a.m. at Allenstown Elementary School.

Will taxpayers support sewer upgrade?

Hooksett Editor — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:12:00 GMT

BY NICHOLAS BROWN

ALLENSTOWN – Sewer commissioners are trying to spread the word about a $15 million bond proposal to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant that services both Pembroke and Allenstown.

The $15 million question will be on Allenstown’s Town Meeting ballot in March, though Pembroke would be responsible for 52 percent of the costs, according to an “intermunicipal” wastewater services agreement signed by sewer commissioners in the neighboring towns last November.

The Allenstown Sewer Commission is hosting informational sessions every Monday leading up to the March 13 vote. Meetings will be at 7 p.m. at the St. John the Baptist Parish Center on Allenstown’s School Street.

Allenstown sewer officials have said much of the renovation costs – which would be covered by a 30-year bond – for the project could be offset by combinations of grant money. All the town’s taxpayers, not just sewer ratepayers, would be responsible for repaying the bond, according to the wording of the warrant article.

“We feel the project is beneficial for the entire community,” sewer commission Chairman James Rodger said. “It’s just like the school system is beneficial to the entire community, even though not everyone sends kids to school.”

Rodger said there are about 1,400 total units currently hooked up to the wastewater treatment plant. There are about 1,900 taxpayers in town, including owners of apartment complexes, said Rodger.

Because the wastewater plant reached capacity, the state Department of Environmental Services issued a moratorium on new sewer hookups in 2005. The moratorium has dissuaded new commercial and industrial businesses – and the tax revenue that would follow – from moving to town, said Rodger.

Rodger said he hoped and expected the end cost of the project to taxpayers in Allenstown and Pembroke would be about $3.5 million per town. The sewer commission has charted three scenarios for repaying the bond.

With no grant money, the commission estimates the tax impact for Allenstown property owners to be $1.67 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. With 20 percent matching grants, the commission estimates that impact will dip to $1.34. With 50 percent covered by grants, the commission estimates an impact of 84 cents.

With those estimates, and with no grant money, the owner of a $200,000 Allenstown home would pay an additional $334 in property taxes annually. With a 20 percent match, that homeowner would pay an additional $268 per year. With 50 percent matching grants, that annual impact would drop to $168.

Selectmen decided not to have a recommendation on the $15 million question on this year’s ballot, said the board’s chairman, Sandy McKenney.

“We wanted it to go straight to the people,” she said. McKenney said such a hefty cost alone may sway Allenstown residents who already struggle paying taxes.

“It’s a lot of money,” she said. “But it’s something we need, so what do you do?”

The budget committee voted not to recommend the plan. Committee Chairman Tom Gilligan couldn’t be reached by press time.

Rodger urged all residents to attend some of the commission’s informational sessions.

“If somebody has a different point of view, they can have the podium,” Rodger said. “We want to know where people are coming from on this.”