Sewer woes in Orangetown
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- November
- 6
The Orangetown Town Board decided to trim back part of the budget for equipment repairs for sewers when it passed the 2008 budget last night.
That’s interesting, considering that critics have assailed the board over and over for allegedly neglecting sewer repairs over the years and allowing the infrastructure to deteriorate. Criticism peaked when in July, when the Town Board approved an increase in funding for the sewer improvement project from $34.9 million to $46.9 million. The board said it was due to a rise in costs of construction and materials.
Supervisor Thom Kleiner said the critics were wrong. He said the board did do regular maintenance and that the infrastructure was just old and in need of upgrades. He said the amount that was cut from the budget — $75,000 — was so small it wouldn’t have an impact.
Ronald Delo, the town’s director of environmental management and engineering, seemed to disagree. At a public hearing last night, he pleaded with the board to restore the funds. The money would be used to repair pump stations as part of a multi-year program for upgrades to pump stations not getting attention in the capital improvement plan, he said.
We’ll check in to see how this impacts the multi-year repair program.
On a related note, Delo was successful in getting back $75,000 for chemicals, after board member Denis O’Donnell made a motion to restore the full amount he requested. Delo argued that $200,000 was the bare minimum needed to supply chemicals for a new disinfection system.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 4:47 pm by Hannan Adely.
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