Important public hearings for water, sewer districts No. 1 set for May 12
by Dan McClelland
The Town of Tupper Lake board last week scheduled public hearings for Water District No. 1 and Sewer District No. 1 to hear comments from the residents of those now-large districts on a host of infrastructure repairs and improvements on the horizon.
The hearings will be in advance of the town board’s next monthly meeting on May 12, which begins at 6p.m.
Those two large districts are made up of dozens of older districts that were debt-free two years ago. They were consolidated into single districts by the town, in a plan developed by the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC).
Village Water and Sewer Superintendent Mark Robillard, whose village crew now makes repairs in all town districts when needed, has provided the town leaders with his list of repairs and improvements needed in each of the respective neighborhoods, all now combined into Nos. 1.
The board will share the information about the repairs and improvements needed with district residents at the upcoming meeting.
Proposed for Water District No. 1 is $8.9 million in repairs and improvements. For Sewer District No. 1 $4 million in improvements and repairs are currently eyed.
Although the residents of the larger districts would share equally in those costs, town officials are hoping to win government grants to offset much of those costs.
Those two larger combined districts are spread out across the township. On all of them the bonds borrowed by the town 20 and 30 years ago to finance the original costs of formation and construction have long been paid off, it was noted that evening.
As these improvements happen in coming years residents of some of those older district will see debt-service fees start to return to their annual water and sewer district charges levied on their tax bills each January.
DANC engineers will likely be in attendance at the upcoming public meeting.
“-And at that point we may have a better idea about costs and financing and the amount of the grants we may qualify for,” said Mr. Dattola.