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The following article was printed in the Hooksett Banner on Jan. 13, 2011. This text version was supplied by Ginger Kozlowski, Executive Editor, Neighborhood News Inc.
Sewer shock
Plant expansion will cost $360,000 more than anticipated by town
by Dan O'Brien
The true taxpayer cost of the Allenstown Wastewater Treatment Facility’s expansion project is 22 percent higher than the $1.6 million figure given to the public in 2009, officials confirmed Monday, Jan. 10.
Now, with sewer customer fees already set to increase in Allenstown and Pembroke this year, the Allenstown Sewer Commission is asking if taxpayers can pay for a portion of that cost overrun.
Sewer officials went before selectmen Jan. 10 proposing a warrant article that, if approved by voters, would use $180,054 in taxpayer money to pay for the overrun. The money has already been raised by the Sewer Department, so there will be no additional tax impact.
The wording of the article actually asks voters to authorize raising $360,108, but officials said they expect half of that money to be reimbursed by the federal stimulus package, saying Allenstown is one of the top communities in line to receive funds.
About $900,000 of the $1.26 million cost overrun is being paid for by the vendor of the sewer expansion project, Cambridge Water Technologies, officials said. [emphasis added]
Allenstown Budget Committee Chairman Sandra McKenney questioned the legality of the warrant article.
"They’re going over their bond from 2009. Is that legal?" she said. "This is to finish that project."
Michael Trainque, vice president of the Manchester engineering firm Hoyle and Tanner Associates Inc., which oversaw the project, said the unplanned cost increase happened because the expansion project was a first of its kind, using BioMag material that allows more waste to settle without having to build additional aeration tanks.
"From day one, the process handler didn’t have a true cost," Trainque said. "This was a huge learning process for them."
Trainque said CMT is picking up the majority of the cost overrun, in part, because the project is the first ever for a municipality in the United States and a successful completion could attract business down the road.
That didn’t stop a flurry of criticism from selectmen.
After Sewer Commissioner Jim Rodger told selectmen the commission learned of the cost overrun about six months ago, Selectman Jeff Gryval said, "We haven’t heard about this once."
"This doesn’t sit well with me," Selectman Roger LaFleur said. "It took a lot to convince the people of Allenstown and Pembroke to support this. Now we’re going back to the well."
LaFleur said there was an alternative project that was also presented to the public.
"That would have given us some (additional wastewater) capacity and stuck within the bounds of our budget," he said.
Rodger said one of the reasons officials wanted the current upgrade is because "it seemed to be less maintenance" and has been used in private industries. The project will be officially completed in the next week or two.
Sewer officials said if voters do not approve the warrant article, the Sewer Department is responsible for paying for the overrun. Officials said they’re not allowed to raise customers’ rates to directly pay for that, but conceded that rates could rise as an indirect cost.
Allenstown’s rates are already scheduled to increase this year, from $7.05 to $7.60 per $1,000 gallons. Pembroke’s are increasing from $5.35 to $6.05, not including a $20-per-quarter unit rental fee for residences that Allenstown customers aren’t charged.
"A lot of elderly people... can’t afford a 10 percent increase," LaFleur said. "This is it for this project."
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