Town Will Pay Higher Water Treatment, Dumping Fees

By John Voket

The Board of Selectmen learned this week that Newtown taxpayers will be expected to help to foot the bill for what is being described as a massive overhaul of the Danbury wastewater treatment plant, the sole facility designated to process local discharge.

And in other matters, the officials heard about mandatory increases that will be required at the local landfill for anyone wishing to dump solid demolition and construction waste.

While the two items are not directly related, both were prompted by activities in Danbury. Public Works Director Fred Hurley, who oversees Newtown transfer station operations and waste processing, said the rate increase to process construction debris through a Danbury-based company was ordered by federal authorities who recently took over operations there from convicted felon James Galante.

Until his most recent indictments, Mr Galante was CEO of Automated Waste Disposal (AWD), a company holding waste disposal contracts for most of western Connecticut and Westchester and Putnam Counties in New York.

Mr Galante was indicted in June 2006 on charges that he carved out exclusive routes for his companies and paid a Genovese crime family boss $120,000 a year for muscle to enforce his territories. Since federal authorities took on oversight of Galante’s operations, they have been meticulously reviewing business practices at AWD, Mr Hurley told selectmen.

During forensic auditing, it was determined that AWD had not incrementally raised fees to process demolition waste over the years, so a jump in the fees to Newtown that was ordered by federal operators might seem excessive.

Mr Hurley said in order for the town’s role in the process to remain revenue neutral, fees for demolition disposal brought to the Newtown dump are increasing from $30 to $39 per cubic yard, and that tipping fee increases imposed by federal authorities at AWD are going from $77.50 to $99.50 this month. He said in his research, he learned the ultimate end fee represented a state average, but the increase seems extreme because it had been undercharged going back to the year 2000.

“It’s ironic that we thought we were being overcharged [by AWD] but we were actually undercharged,” Mr Hurley said. “This increase represents normal escalation going back to 2000.”

The town is under the state’s solid waste plan to designate a transfer site that is the AWD facility, Mr Hurley said, and increases are exclusive to demolition debris. Following a question from Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Mr Hurley confirmed that if fees were not raised here, the town would have to absorb the increases at the transfer station in Danbury, which would ultimately come out of the town budget affecting all taxpayers and not just those making minor dump runs with construction waste.

Mr Hurley said such a program is a convenience for those doing small home improvement projects, and normally, a larger project would be more cost efficient if homeowners contracted a dumpster service for debris.

After some brief discussion, the selectmen unanimously agreed to increase the local fees, and to pay the increase stipulated at the AWD operation.

The board also learned this week that taxpayers will also be paying into an increase to process Newtown’s wastewater through its designated facility, which is operated by the City of Danbury. Speaking to The Bee prior to the selectmen’s meeting, Mr Borst said that a letter from Mayor Mark Boughton explains that all participating towns will be assessed “apportioned increases” to cover debt service on the part of the facility improvements that are not being totally underwritten by the state.

During the selectmen’s meeting, Mr Mangiafico said he would support the increase, but was concerned that language be stipulated so the increased costs sunset when debt service on the Danbury project bond has been satisfied.

“Who’s going to remember this increase in 20 or 30 years?” Mr Mangiafico said. “I don’t want the cost of debt service built into the increase permanently.”

Mr Hurley, who also fielded questions on this item, said Newtown’s flow is monitored by meter, and that the debt service payment should be broken out separately on the bills Newtown receives from Danbury.

Mr Rosenthal agreed that the payments must appear broken out on the billing, and the lapse of the increase after the bond is paid should be included in the local resolution to support the fee increase.

In other business, Mr Hurley previewed plans for the reconfiguration of the Pecks Lane, Prospect Drive and South Main Street intersections. Seeking a resolution to move forward with plans, the public works director was pleased to announce that the project had been elevated to a top-tier priority by the federal Department of Transportation, which qualifies full reimbursement to the town.

Mr Hurley said that reimbursement is set at $1,895,000, adding the DOT’s fast tracking came as a result of the number of traffic crashes logged at the busy three-way portal which serves several commercial businesses and town offices on Pecks Lane.

( Associated Press reports were used in this report.)