WESTFIELD – The Law Department and Legislative & Ordinance Committee will review a motion by Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul Sr., to revise the betterment process for extending sewer service in the city.
Paul, speaking at the Aug. 20 City Council meeting, said that many residents cannot afford the cost of extending sewer service under the current betterment process in which residents pay the full cost of a sewer line extension over a period of time, usually 20 years.
The city bonds for the work and residents pay a betterment fee to retire the bond.
Paul is proposing a new betterment process in which the city would “waive” betterment fees if residents agree to connect to the sewer line within one year of it being put on line.
Paul has argued that the city should be more aggressive in expanding the sewer lines throughout the city because the Planning Board has, for decades, required subdivision developers to install dry sewer lines, the cost of which is added to the price of the lots in that subdivision. Dry sewer lines are not connected to the city’s sewer infrastructure or to homes built in that subdivision.
The developers also install septic systems for homes built in that subdivision, so people buying property in that subdivision are paying for both a functioning septic system and non-functioning sewer lines.
Even when those dry sewer lines are connected to the city sewer, many residents do not connect their homes until their septic system fails. The Health Department requires homeowners to connect to the active sewer line.
Paul said that each subdivision, or project, should be added to the list of active sewer projects when 51 percent of residents sign a petition. Paul has proposed that once 51 percent of residents sign the petition it would trigger a memorandum of agreement (MOA), a legal document prepared by the Law Department and attached to the deed of that property.
Under the terms of the MOA, as proposed by Paul, the city is responsible for completing the sewer betterment within 14 months and the residents connectiing within a year of completion.
Paul also argues that any residents with access to an active sewer line, but who are still on a septic system, would be required to pay the same quarterly $75 sewer fee that people connected to the sewer now pay. Paul said that current sewer users are subsidizing residents who have that availability to use the sewer but who choose not to connect.
“We don’t have enough users to support the system,” Paul said this morning. “And the $75 quarterly fee is ridiculous; it needs to go up to $100 a quarter over the next five years.”
Currently the sewer fee is set by the City Council, and subject to political machinations, but Paul has suggested that authority for setting sewer rates be moved to a different board, such as the Water Commission of Board of Public Works.
Both motions were sent to the L&O and the Law Department for further review.
