2013-01-22- Mtg 4 - SP SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-12-2013 MTG #4 824
SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING MTG. #4
JANUARY 22, 2013 RES. 83
6:30 p.m.
TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT
SUPERVISOR RONALD MONTESI
COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER
COUNCILMAN JOHN STROUGH
COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER
TOWN OFFICIALS:
CHRIS HARRINGTON, TOWN ENGINEER
DISCUSSION: SEWER RATES
Chris Harrington Spoke to the Board regarding his plans for the upcoming year.
FIRST DISCUSSION: SOUTH QUEENSBURY SEWER RATES.
MR. HARRINGTON- South Queensbury is currently $25,000 in the red. Mr. Harrington explained
that South Queensbury was built with grant money from the Federal Government for consent
order for Washington County Sewer District#1. It was thought to be a good idea for economic
development. The bottom line is that we take all the risks for South Queensbury, we only
convey about 5% of the waste, 95% of the waste comes from Washington County, Kingsbury
and from Angio Dynamics.
COUNCILMAN BREWER- How did that happen?
MR. HARRINGTON- For economic development down by the Armory; that was the trade-off.
The problem is there are not a lot of users on it so if a pump breaks or something it really hits
us hard. There have been several issues over the past year and the 0 & M rates are just not
high enough and you can't make it high enough to get a reserve because there are not a lot of
customers. The plan is to get rid of the $25,000 and build up a fund balance of about $15,000.
COUNCILMAN BREWER- Questioned how they are going to build a fund balance if it's not
sustaining itself now?
MR. HARRINGTON- It will have to be done on the benefit tax roll, two years, ten dollars per
unit.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- Who is going to pay those who benefit?
MR. HARRINGTON- Explained that the whole district, which is a thousand units in Queensbury
and then there's a thousand units in Washington County, and we back charge those people. Its
twenty-one hundred units overall for South Queensbury.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- Why can't you raise 0 & M?
MR. HARRINGTON- When you have to raise it it's better to raise it on the tax side because you
can always write that off.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH-This is going to be a continuous problem unless you have a benefit
tax.
COUNCILMAN BREWER- Hopefully, eventually the idea is to get more customers, which will
reduce that
MR. HARRINGTON- Now the problem with the benefit tax roll is that it bites into the tax cap
SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-12-2013 MTG #4 825
SUPERVISOR MONTESI- I think what you've got to do for us is someone's got to layout the users
and what ten dollars is going to cost.
MR. HARRINGTON-They are going to pay one way or the other
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- Suggested that we put this in with the Quaker sewer district?
MR. HARRINGTON-They're grants, South Queensbury is all grants. I don't know if you can do
that because of all the grant money. I think you should take Route 9 and Queensbury
Consolidated and consolidate those first.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- But, if we incorporated South Queensbury in the Quaker Road Sewer
District because that's big enough and rich enough to absorb this.
COUNCILMAN BREWER- Quaker Road Sewer District just got paid for last year didn't it?
MR. HARRINGTON- It has no debt.
SUPERVISOR MONTESI- I think we need to see what the impact is. I know we are going to pay
one way or the other.
MR. HARRINGTON- I will list out the user and their impacts to the benefit tax roll raising it ten
dollars.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- Would like to get to the day when they can consolidate all of these
sewer districts.
MR. HARRINGTON- Will speak with Town Counsel regarding the possibility of consolidation of
the sewer districts.
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- It's worth investigating and it's worth considering as one of our
options.
SECOND DISCUSSION: FORCE MAIN TO MEADOWBROOK PUMP STATION, ETC.
MR. HARRINGTON- We spent four hundred thousand dollars on three hundred feet of linear
pipe back in 2006. We now need to put a plan together to put some redundancy on that main
so that I can by-pass problem areas. The plan I have is going to cost around a half million dollars
for the pipe itself; but other things need to be done as well. We need to put odor control on the
Meadowbrook pump station because we have gotten complaints in the past. We also need to
put variable frequency drives on the electronics; we need to address some of the grinder pump
issues down on Quaker Road. So, I'm looking at about a million dollars for all that.
COUNCILMAN BREWER- So this will go back on the Quaker Road Sewer District bills right?
MR. HARRINGTON-Yes
COUNCILMAN STROUGH- We don't have any choice it has to be done
MR. HARRINGTON- No, we can't. I need to get the engineer and start
COUNCILMAN STROUGH-You have to, go ahead and do it. You don't have any choice
COUNCILMAN BREWER- Do everything you have to do. Outline it for us anyway to see how
much it is going to cost.
SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-12-2013 MTG #4 826
THIRD DISCUSSION: ESTABLISH BUY-IN FOR SEWER DISTRICT
MR. HARR]NGTON- Explained that we have a buy-in for the City, but we don't have a buy-in for
outside users into the Queensbury sewer districts. The easiest way to address this and make
sure everyone is on the same page is to give it a price per thousand gallons average daily flow.
After further discussion it was decided that a resolution is needed for buy-ins following DEC's
standards.
SUPERVISOR MONTESI- We need a price for buy-in outside of the district.
MR. HARRINGTON-That's up to you
SUPERVISOR MONTESI- Make it the same as Glens Falls and base it on DEC standards
MR. HARRINGTON- Will speak to Pam in Town Counsel's Office regarding drafting a resolution.
RESOLUTION ADJOURNING SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING
RESOLUTION NO. 83, 2013
INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi
WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION
SECONDED BY: Mr.John Strough
RESOLVED, that the Special Town Board Meeting of January 22, 2013 is hereby adjourned.
Duly adopted this 22nd day of January, 2013 by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Metivier, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Montesi
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
Respectfully submitted,
Miss Darleen M. Dougher
Town Clerk-Queensbury