Citizen taxpayer Elaine Gibbs has followed up her electrifying memo to the selectmen with a equally startling memo to the Finance Committee. The more she digs, the more incredible information she is finding, stuff nobody knew except those on the inside. As she says, town officials should have been getting this kind of information out. Busy taxpayers with other things to do shouldn't have to make a career of finding out what their public officials are up to but don't want to say.

It's absolutely remarkable how little has been said in public about the centralized sewer by town officials since early last year. Silence has largely reigned. Is that because town officials just wanted sleeping dogs to keep sleeping? Just asking. When CCT proposed that vastly less costly alternatives be evaluated, town officials did leap to the ramparts, not to agree, but to kill the idea.

Here's Elaine Gibbs' Memo to the Finance Committee.

Gibbs Finance Jan 28 2010-Final.pdf

Here's her earlier Memo to the Board of Selectmen in case you missed it.

There will finally be a hearing on the sewer plan on Tuesday, February 23rd. We have to make sure the public has an extensive opportunity to comment and ask questions and it isn't just another effort to squelch debate.

This sewer plan, which will cost a half billion dollars, more or less, is staggering in its implications for Chatham's way of life for the next 20 years.

Every citizen who can find the time should read through the plan. Dr. Duncanson has stated that Stearns & Wheler is obliged to provide every citizen of Chatham who requests it a free copy. Call Stearns & Wheler to have your copy sent to you. The Hyannis office is 508-790-1707.

What's fascinating about this document is that it is supposedly Chatham's official Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, but it's got Stearns & Wheler's copyright notice on the cover and every page has Stearns & Wheler's name at the bottom.

Did town officials just rubberstamp what Stearns & Wheler drafted? Stearns & Wheler does big city sewers. That's their businesss, good luck to them.

But Chatham should always be looking for the most cost-effective solution to a problem, but why do we wonder if that was done in this case?

Every other town that's actively working on the problem of excess nitrogen in coastal pwaters -- Falmouth, Mashpee and Orleans -- is looking for a cost effective way to deal with the problem, rejecting the centralized sewer solution as way too expensive for homeowners. Who thinks Chatham is so rich it needn't do what they are doing? It isn't the Chatham taxpayers who pay the bills.

ELAINE GIBBS WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TOLD.

THIS IS YOUR MONEY. YOU CAN DO THE JOB FOR FAR LESS.

DO THE JOB FOR FAR LESS.pdf

There is a catch: You are the ones who have to pay for their “Grand Plan” with your property taxes. The Grand Plan will cost half a billion dollars ($500,000,000) at least, but since it will be payable over 50 years your kids and grandkids will have to kick in, too. This is the most expensive project in the history of the town.

You deserve to know the facts and to have the chance to vote on the plan. But you may not know the facts till it’s too late and you may never get the chance to vote on it.

Chatham Concerned Taxpayers (CCT) has repeatedly urged town officials to evaluate alternatives that can clean the nitrogen from our coastal waters for 25% to 50% less cost, but their attitude was, “No, thanks. We aren’t interested in checking out savings for taxpayers. We deserve the best, we can afford it. It’s the Chatham way. Go away.” No to savings of $100-$250 million?

Town officials apparently have decided not to put their Grand Plan to a town meeting vote or to let taxpayers know about the availability of less expensive alternatives or even how much they will have to pay for their Grand Plan. Therefore, as a start, CCT has done the calculations presented in the table below (numbers rounded to zero) so you can determine what your costs will be if town officials go forward with their Grand Plan. (Supporting data is elswhere on this website.)

Just find your assessment value in the left column and read across. Why 20 years? Optimists that we are, we all think we’ll live that long. We once again ask town officials to publish their detailed taxpayer cost estimates since the only information about the cost of the Grand Plan the public has seen is Dr. Robert Duncanson’s assertion printed in the Cape Cod Times of December 7, 2009 that the average property owner would only pay $3,500 over 20 years for the sewer at an average yearly cost of $175. That isn’t possible. The town’s estimate of the average charge for a property owner to connect to the sewer system is $6,500, so Dr. Duncanson’s $3,500 doesn’t even pay for that, let alone cover even a nickel of the property tax bill for the half billion dollar sewer. CCT believes the estimates set forth below are, if anything, understated.

WE MUST ACT NOW BECAUSE TOWN OFFICIALS ARE PLANNING TO EXECUTE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS AND START DIGGING ANY DAY NOW BEFORE YOU KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON UNDER THE RADAR.

If you want town officials to seriously evaluate far less expensive ways to clean Chatham’s waters, WE MUST ACT NOW. Mashpee is currently evaluating a low cost alternative that it hopes will save it $300 million over the $550 million cost estimate for a Chatham-type centralized sewer. Falmouth is checking out less expensive alternatives, so is Orleans and Dennis plans to, also.

Chatham is the only Cape town not bothering to look at saving huge taxpayer dollars with alternative strategies but is rushing ahead with a hugely expensive conventional centralized sewer that is likely to be obsolete before it is finished, taking into account the explosion of “green” technology that is taking place.

There is no need for rushing ahead. There are no timetables, there are no deadlines. We should solve the excess nitrogen problem the most cost effective way possible.

Environmental organizations and EPA support and prefer alternatives such as decentralized low cost sewer systems because they are environmentally friendly as well as less expensive.

We should demand that town officials stop now and not proceed with implementation of their Grand Plan. They should carefully evaluate less costly options for integration into the final plan and you have learned what all your costs for your property will be for the different options. You should demand a town meeting vote on the plan, alternatives and taxpayer costs.

THERE IS NO TIME TO LOSE. WE MUST ACT NOW.

COME TO OUR EMERGENCY TAXPAYER PLANNING MEETING FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010 AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER STARTING AT 8:30 A.M. TO LEARN FACTS ABOUT THE SEWER YOU HAVEN’T BEEN TOLD AND WHAT THE ACTION PLAN WILL BE TO STOP THIS DENIAL OF YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE ON THIS MONUMENTAL PROJECT.

BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. GET OUR SEWER NEWS IN THIS WEEK’S CHRONICLE.

Elaine Gibbs, homeowner and registered voter became incensed at the rude behavior of Chatham town officials towards CCT challenging them to tell taxpayers the truth about their HALF BILLION DOLLAR sewer plans. She devoted a week around the clock to finding out what is really about to happen if town officials succeed in starting construction of their huge, expensive sewer plan in the next few days. They will be in effect committing taxpayers to HALF A BILLION DOLLARS AND MORE in property taxes for which taxpayers have not voted.

Download a copy of Elaine's extraordinary memo to the selectmen demanding answers.

It is MUST READING. TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO GET THEIR COPY HERE. READ IT ONLIINE BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW TO OPEN OR RIGHT CLICK ON "SAVE TARGET AS" AND DOWNLOAD YOUR OWN COPY TO THE FOLDER YOU SELECT.

Elaine will be telling the story at our Friday emergency taxpayer planning meeting at the Community Centee at 8:30 a.m..

WastewaterEG.pdf

We can't let them keep this story under the radar any longer. We'll be the losers if we do.

Why does Chatham always seem to find the most expensive way to do things? In this case, it's HALF A BILLION DOLLARS OR MORE, not just an overbuilt $10 million community center or a $17 million town hall annex for a handful of police and planning and permitting people. This is HUGE money. The job can be done for less, but town officials aren't interested. But taxpayers are very interested.

We'll discuss how we can slow things down and get cheaper solutions looked at.

It'll probably take a special town meeting to do it.

Chatham Concerned Taxpayers since last spring has been asking town officials to provide taxpayers with some real estimates of their costs for so-called Phase 1 of the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan (CWMP). Town officials have decided upon a big city centralized sewer system, which will extend to about two-thirds of Chatham's properties. The quoted cost estimate (now three years old) has been $240 million, which is a staggering sum. But the real amount is going to be a lot more because the construction period will be 20 years, costs will rise and interest will have to be paid on the money borrowed.

Taxpayer Cost of the Centralized Sewer System Proposed by Town Officials. Despite CCTs requests, the only estimate given out by any town official for Phase 1 was by Dr. Robert Duncanson. As reported in the Cape Cod Times of December 7, 2009, in an interview with a reporter Duncanson claimed that the average homeowner would only pay $3,500 over 20 years, or an average of $175 per year. Since the average cost for an individual property owner's connection to the sewer is estimated by town officials as $6,500, Dr. Duncanson's $3,500 does not even cover that cost let alone pay any part of the property tax cost of the centralized sewer system itself..

Therefore, CCT decided to do its best to inform taxpayers what kind of costs they might face. Working with na Excel spreadsheet program, using publicly available information and normal engineering estimating practices, the table which appears below was developed to show approximate costs for properties of different valuation, depending on whether they would be sewered in Phase 1 or not.

As we see it, the total cost of the town officials' plan could be in the range of $490 million up to $750 million. The table below uses $500 billion to calculate taxpayer costs, which almost certainly understates what the taxpayer costs will ultimately be.

The main capital costs of the system will be on the property tax and payable by all properties, sewered or not. Those sewered will individually pay a connection charge and monthly maintenance fees. These costs are factored in along with interest (best available from the state) and 3% inflation. The $10 million net benefit from the USDA loan/grant program ($10 million) is credited to the overall cost. Numbers are rounded to zero for easier reading. The spreadsheet which generated the chart can be accessed by clicking on the link at the end of this item.

Click on the table below to get a bigger picture.

To view the back-up spreadsheet, click link below:

100118 ChathPropTaxpCost Analysis chart backup online.xls

Why talk about a sewer at all? There is only one reason for discussing such a system at all: It is believed that by removing "excess nitrogen" from Chatham's embayments the waters will be healthier. Assuming that's so, CCT raised a simple, straightforward question, "Isn't there a way to do that for a lot less money than what town officials are proposing?"

Better, cheaper alternatives. It didn't take long for CCT to discover indeed there was. Low cost neighborhood or cluster sewer systems which can perform the required nitrogen removal task at far less cost. They can be installed jn a much shorter time frame, will cause far less disruption to the community's way of life and are much friendlier to the environment. They will show positive results sooner, no waiting for more than 20 years to see if the centralized sewer system actually does the job.

CCT presented an informational forum on these alternatives in September and petitioned the selectmen (September 22, 2009) to undertake an evaluation process of these alternatives that have the potential of saving taxpayers 25% to 50% of the cost of the centralized sewer system town officials were proposing to build. That could be $100 million to $250 million. The selectmen refused. CCT argued that they had a fiduciary obligation to taxpayers to look into possible savings of this magnitude. Still they refused. The selectmen said alternatives had been considered four or so years back and none of them worked. CCT's investigation showed that the town had never considered an alternative system that could do the job of removing nitrogen as well as any modern large sewer treatment plant at far less cost. Still, the selectmen refused.

There must be a town meeting to vote on the entire CWMP. The third request CCT made to town officials was to put the CWMP to a town meeting for a vote of approval or disapproval before launching any implementation of their hugely expensive project. Shockingly, it appears as if they have no intention of doing so. CCT has learned that the treatment plant upgrade they are planning to do immediately will enlarge it to its 20-year capacity, making it impossible to incorporate any far less expensive alternatives into the nitrogen removal solution. Taxpayers would in effect be forced to vote for all the additional monies ($180 to $200 million) to spread sewer piping throughout the town to provide the large quantities of wastewater the enlarged plant needs to operate. No taxpayer who voted for the treatment plant enlargement on May 11, 2009 in Article 14 of the Warrant had any idea he was in effect being committed to paying for a half billion to a billion dollar project, because he wasn't told that would be the effect of his vote.

One who read the Cape Cod Times article on December 28th about oppostion rising to the huge centralized sewer systems being proposed for several towns on Cape Cod, including Chatham, emails his comments to Chatham Concerned Taxpayers. He aptly describes how town officials typically try to sneak these big projects past taxpayers with low ball numbers or not using any numbers at all for property taxpayers. Essentially, the writer says these projects are just unaffordable.

This is what he had to say:

To whom it may concern:

I read with interest now that the good taxpayers of Chatham have finally arose to the fact of the astronomical cost to each and every taxpayer.

Let me first say, that three years ago the town was proposing this sewer system at the same $300 million price tag. I wrote several responses to newspapers with the true cost estimates and why sewers were totally cost prohibitive.

I worked with a friend who worked for Ernst & Young as a municipal capital investment expert in long range municipal public works projects in cost analysis, budgeting and funding.

He explained to me three years ago why NO MUNICIPAL AGENCY could fund such a project such as this.

He explained that municipalities will give the taxpayer a totally untrue low ball figure that can't be sustained in the past or present future due to the year to year increase in cost of materials, change order cost, labor increases, police road work costs, new paving costs and on, and on.

He had worked on many of these projects for municipalities while working with one of the largest and respected Accounting Firms in the country as an actuary and accountant. He explained to me that the increase from which the town will try and sell to its taxpayers, which is basically the start up cost if the project is to start today and finish tomorrow.

He pointed out that the largest public works project in the Commonwealth of MA is the CENTRAL ARTERY TUNNEL PROJECT, better known as the 'BIG DIG'.

The BIG DIG was estimated that it would cost taxpayers $2.3 Billion started in 1985 and would take 20 years to complete. Well, here we are 25 years later and the costs of increased to over $22 Billion OR and INCREASE OF 1,000 % in true cost.

So with that in mind, consider the potential cost of a sewer system in Chatham most likely easily NOT costing $300 million but closer to $3 BILLION . You now can do the fifth grade math that the town fathers were not capable of expressing to the taxpayers in SELLING them some ridiculous cost estimates. Remember your talking about 6,300 residential property's paying in reality $3 BILLION DOLLARS over 20 years.

Take that figure I read in a recent article that indicated it would cost $44 thousand per property and MULTIPLY by the INCREASE IN REAL COST OF 1,000% higher and your group can truly get a grasp of this most outrageous project which truly is beyond the taxpayers ability to fund.

My friend at Ernst & Young has said this truly presents a true idea of costs. One thing the news article's hasn't presented is the additional costs of a Sewer Disposal Plant, the amount of new town employees with salary and benefits, new town vehicles to operate the plant and system, and anticipated repair and replacement of such a plant and vehicles to operate.

I hope this has been some value to your group, as you can see this would drive everyone out of town, reduce property values to the point the town cease to exist after thousands stop paying their tax bills to support such a TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS PROPOSAL.

Your group should also involve itself with looking at other major municipal public works projects and their start and finish costs and you'll be so enlightened to how this town is trying to push a project that is totally unsustainable through taxation.

Now the writer is somewhat off here and there. The "$300 million" does include the sewer plant.

But his main point is correct: The record of staggering escalation in the costs of large municipal projects is well-known. The Big Dig is indeed an excellent example, though the original $2-$3 billion estimate has after 18 years of construction "only" risen, we believe, to $16 billion or so, not $22 billion. Still, that's up five times over the original estimate.

CCT's estimates were done very modestly, adding no cost escalation, just normal inflation. Nonetheless, the total for the $240 million project comes out to be close to half a billion dollars, almost certainly more if cost escalation is taken into account.

Whether it's twice the stated cost, five times or ten times, there's more than sufficient reason to search out the most cost effective ways to attack the nitrogen problem.

Cape Cod Times gets part of the story right: Taxpayers don't want to waste money on wastewater projects that are much more expensive than they need to be.

This is especially true of the largest municipal projects ever, the multi-billion dollar efforts to end wastewater pollution of the Cape's bays and rivers in which all three front-running towns have run up against last-minute opposition.

The opposition to big city centralized sewer solutions is most intense in Mashpee and Falmouth, both facing centralized sewer estimates of more than $500 million, as well as in Chatham and Orleans. Mashpee is currently evaluating a low cost sewer alternative that could save taxpayers as much as $300 million. Falmouth taxpayers are also demanding an open review of sewer alternatives and the selectmen have agreed to hire a public facilitator to run the process. Orleans has put off for a year filing its draft comprehensive wastewater management plan with the state while it considers whether the state requirements for cleaning the water are flawed and how much could be saved by utilizing low cost decentralizied sewers.

Only in Chatham are taxpayer concerns and questions being ignored.

Taxpayers are demanding they be fully informed about costs and how much money can be saved by use of low cost sewer systems such as the decentralized sewers preferred by the federal EPA and national environmental organizations such as Clean Water Action and the local environmental activist the Conservation Law Foundation.

Despite the testiness and annoyance evidenced by town officials in their remarks to the Cape Cod Times in the article, it's never too late to do the right thing by the taxpayers. After all, they're the ones paying the bill.

Late opposition hampers Chatham sewers By Doug Fraser in the Cape Cod Times December 28, 2009

Chatham's $300 million plan to construct a sewer system for most of the town sailed through hearings and board votes with little opposition. That culminated in a unanimous vote at May's town meeting to borrow almost $60 million for the first phase of construction.

So, it came as a surprise to town officials when Fran Meaney and Phil Dupont co-founded the Chatham Concerned Taxpayers Association last February to advocate wastewater alternatives they believe might cost a lot less. Meaney has been a year-round resident for only a couple of years and admits he hadn't paid much attention to the town sewer project. But when it comes to tax dollars, he doesn't think it's ever too late to speak up.

"People say you can't do anything, the train has left the station, and I said, hey, there's hundreds of millions of dollars involved and there may be a way of saving half," said Meaney.

It has happened over and over, in town after town, as late-to-the-party critics come forward in opposition to a project in its final stages. Whether it's a road project, a zoning change or municipal wind turbines, the public process comes to a halt.

This is especially true of the largest municipal projects ever, the multi-billion dollar efforts to end wastewater pollution of the Cape's bays and rivers in which all three front-running towns have run up against last-minute opposition.

"You can have hearings and meetings, and when the stakes go in the ground, that's when people realize it is going to happen," said Yarmouth Town Administrator Robert Lawton. At the very least it costs towns money to hold extra hearings and town meetings. Blown grant deadlines or construction delays can mean lost opportunities and higher building expenses.

So, when can town officials tell citizens they missed their window of opportunity and that they have to move on?

Legally, it's pretty cut-and-dry: as long as towns fulfill their legal requirements on notifications, public hearings and votes, they can go forward, said James Lampke, the executive director of the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association of Massachusetts.

In most cases, the law requires some form of notification for either a public hearing, or a vote. Towns sometimes use direct mailings to abutters or affected parties, but in other cases citizens must watch for postings in legal ads or the town Web site.

Last-minute implications

Missing a critical meeting or not learning about a project until the last minute is not enough for a citizen to legally extend a project's process.

"People don't realize that they have a responsibility to be informed as to what is going on," said Lampke. "It's not that the community doesn't want them to know what is going on, but a town can only do so much in letting people know."

But with big projects like wind turbines and wastewater, the ante is high. The impact on taxes for Chatham's wastewater project, for instance, stretches out over 40 years.

"When I talked to people, nobody knew the (fiscal) impact and nobody knew there might be a cheaper way to do it," Meaney said.

"This is happening for two reasons: the economy has tanked and everybody is freaked out about the bill," said Augusta McKusick, who spent the past decade as chairman of the Orleans wastewater committee. McKusick thought residents supported the need for constructing sewers in large parts of town.

So, she was surprised when opposition to the town's wastewater treatment plan finally surfaced two years ago, just ahead of a critical town meeting vote. McKusick was angry, she said, because some people had chosen not to participate in the public process and the town was forced to go over old ground.

"Certainly the opportunities were there. We've had townwide mailings," she said. "Obviously, there's this: Excuse me, where were you?"

Despite the Orleans town meeting vote in October 2008, overwhelmingly endorsing the wastewater plan, a town committee was formed to "peer review" scientific conclusions of University of Massachusetts scientists [which had] already been reviewed by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

But selectman chairman David Dunford sees things differently. He believes McKusick's committee was always preaching to a core group of about 300 voters who would show up at hearings and town meetings. The reality of a $150 million project didn't dawn on most citizens, he said.

"When something that is not pleasant is about to fall on you, it tends to focus your attention," he said.

Sometimes, citizens — seasonal residents and newcomers, for example — are in the dark because they weren't here.

'In the dark'

When Alice Kuntz bought her Harwich home in August, the real estate agent told her the woods out back were conservation land, she said.

What he either neglected to tell her or didn't know, was that the town was planning on installing two wind turbines on the land.

"It's supposed to be 800 feet from my back door and 400 feet tall, equivalent to 40 stories," Kuntz said. "We feel like we were very much in the dark. I wish the town would have notified us in person."

"I feel like it kind of got slipped in the back door," she added.

But the possibility that turbines could be built on that land — water department property — had been in the news and discussed at public meetings for months, said Harwich Water Department Superintendent Craig Wiegand.

A presentation on the town Web site for an Oct. 26 public meeting on the proposal shows the turbine locations on a map, as did the warrant for the Nov. 12 special town meeting.
There was little discussion at town meeting, and voters nearly unanimously authorized selectmen to contract to build the turbines.

Wiegand is not sympathetic to those who say it flew under their radar. "There's a lot of information out there," he said. "If you choose not to go to town meeting, you've given up your right to complain."

Chatham’s town officials, despite repeated requests, have not published detailed information about the cost of the centralized sewer system they are proposing, although Dr. Robert Duncanson, who is in charge of the project under Town Manager William Hinchey, told a Cape Cod Times reporter this past week (Cape Cod Times, December 7, 2009) that over 20 years it would only cost the average homeowner $3,500 or $175 a year on average.

For a $200-$300 million project, that is an unbelievable statement. It is a shame that town officials have not published detailed information to substantiate that claim -- but then, they could not. They should publish the real information in full detail so taxpayers will know what town officials are planning for them to pay. The financial information about taxpayer costs in the Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan posted on the town's website is also inaccurate, incomplete and not credible.

In the absence of any credible estimates of the true cost to taxpayers of the proposed centralized sewer, Chatham Concerned Taxpayers did its own calculation of costs based on publicly available information and common engineering assumptions and the best financing arrangements currently available from the state, e.g., 30 year terms, level payment, 2%.

For those getting sewers in so-called Phase 1 (about two-thirds of all residential properties) the average homeowner cost over 20 years will be about $52,000, not $3,500. Their average annual cost will be about $2,600 or $217 a month over a 20-year period. Payments will continue for 30 more years until all the debt incurred to finance the project is paid. The total financed cost of this property would be about $76,109.

Continue reading "CHATHAM TOWN OFFICIALS FAIL TO COME CLEAN ON SEWER COSTS: $2,600 OR $175 PER YEAR FOR AVERAGE HOMEOWNER?"

The big story continues to be the $240 million centralized sewer that town officials are planning to build, apparently without any town meeting ever voting on it.

It appears as if town officials are content to just use the vote this past May for a $60 million upgrade of the treatment plant as the only vote they need to plow ahead with their centralized sewer plan for the whole town.

Why is that, you may ask?

Once that upgrade to the treatment plant is done, in just two years from now according to the plan, we've been told voters will be forced to go ahead with the $240 million big city sewer or “waste” the money spent on the upgrade. The huge enlargement of capacity will require lots of wastewater to run properly. Their apparent strategy on this is just as clever as how they whisked the treatment plant upgrade through town meeting on a quick vote to see if the town could get “free” federal stimulus money, which required having all approvals in hand and being “shovel ready” by the deadline of February 17, 2010. Nobody understood the implications of that vote. CCT said at the time, well, let's get all the facts out on costs, stimulus and everything else and maybe in December or January a town meeting could vote to ratify or rescind the May vote, which was cast by an uninformed electorate. It isn't going to happen, if town officials have the say.

Indeed, as of this writing, taxpayers have still not been told what the true costs to them will be. But now maybe there's not even the need to rush for the stimulus money. The White House seems to have dropped the deadline and promised worthy projects will get funded after February 17.

As for costs, Dr. Duncanson made the astounding statement to a Cape Cod Times reporter last Saturday that the average homeowner would pay only $175 a year on average for 20 years for his sewer, which doesn’t compute. That amount wouldn’t even cover the average hook-up charge of $6,500 over 20 years let alone his cost for the sewer! This extraordinary assertion motivated CCT to do its own calculation. We found that for the average homeowner who gets sewered, the costs will be in the neighborhood of $2200 a year, not $175, on average over the first 20 years of financing. Get the details. (Payments will continue for another30 years.) See our analysis!)

We’re asking that town officials issue detailed financial information to support Duncanson’s claim or provide the real cost information for all property owners.

Again, the town should stop rushing the taxpayers along.

This is the biggest expense in the history of Chatham. Already, Chatham spends more per capita on capital projects than any other town on the Cape. Outstanding bonds to be paid off are now about $30 million. Imagine adding $240 million plus in debt to that! Multiplying debt eight-fold!

And we're in the middle of a great recession. Last spring CCT urged town officials to defer non-emegency capital spending in light of the dire economic situation, but they decided to press ahead anyway with the PD/Annex and this massive sewer project. The debt service costs for these two projects will be driving the property tax up in the not too distant future.

This project should not go into the ground until taxpayers have had a chance to be fully informed and a town meeting vote is held. But town officials have goine ahead and put out contract bids, which now have been opened. They are in the process of negotiating contracts with the aim of getting the treatment plant underway before taxpayers learn of the costs they will be forced to pay.

There are low cost systems that do the nitrogen reduction job just as well. They can be integrated into the sewer plan to save as much as $100 million in taxpayer money. Thus far, town officials have refused to evaluate them.

Selectmen have a fiduciary duty to spend taxpayer money wisely and they have not demonstrated they are doing that.

CCT does not believe chasing $10 million in stimulus money and ignoring $100 million in possible savings for taxpayers is responsible stewardship. The midst of a great recession is no time for wasteful spending, no time for such an expensive sewer system when the job can be done for so much less.

Let's stop and do this right. Many good Chatham citizens worked hard to identify the nitrogen problem and map out what needed to be done. But they never were shown any low cost alternatives that can reduce nitrogen as well as the big city sewer systems and cost far less to build and operate. All in all, they are better environmentally, are cheaper and can be built in much less time with far less disruption. Good information was presented at the recent forum in Mashpee on "Rethinking Sewers." Also, check this.

Town officials should inform taxpayers of the true costs of the proposed centralized sewer for their properties. Taxpayers should learn what alternatives can be utilized to bring the costs down. They should have the right to vote on the entire nitrogen reduction plan when it is finalized, hopefully at much less cost than town officials are currently proposing.

Instead, it appears as if town officials are buying a white elephant for the town's taxpayers and, worst yet, the taxpayers don't even know how much they are going to have to pay for it.

Chatham may be the last Cape Cod town to buy a centralized sewer system. Other Cape towns are looking at alternatives to big city sewer systems. These expensive systems just aren't needed to solve the excess nitrogren problem. Officials in Falmouth, Mashpee and Orleans want to save taxpayer money and aren't convinced they need to buy a white elephant as Chatham is doing.

The Chatham property tax bills are in the mail. By law payment is due by January 8th. That is also the final day for filing for an abatement if you think it's warranted. It requires some homework to see what sales in your neighborhood have been and how properties near and like yours are assessed. You can check all town properties for their current assessments on the town's website. See our earlier report.

Click on this link to obtain a copy of the Abatement Application form.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the President has said that worthy projects that aren't ready for the February 17, 2010 target date for the first stimulus plan can relax.

"White House economist Jared Berstein said worthy projects not deemed "shovel ready" in the initial funding applications now will see money, implying that federal stimulus spending could stretch well beyond 2010."

So there is no reason not to take the time to evaluate how much money Chatham taxpayers can save by integrating decentralized systems and innovative devices such as the Nitrex permeable barrier approved by DEP for installation in Orleans into the nitrogren reduction program.

Wtth as much as $100 million in taxpayer savings possible, town officials have a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers to determine how and where to utilize these alternatives.

It never made any sense to rush to get "free" federal stimulus money of perhaps $10 or $15 million and ignore possible savings of $100 million or more.

Representative Matt Patrick (Falmouth) has been working closely with the Department of Environmental Protection on getting its attention focused urgently on the need for less costly solutions to the removal of nitrogen from the Cape's coastal waters.

Patrick has just been informed by the DEP Commissioner Laurie Bird that DEP has approved the installation of a Nitrex permeable barrier in Orleans to demonstrate its effectiveness in removing nitrogen and other contaminants in the groundwater before they enter Pleasant Bay waters.

The Lombardo Nitrex barrier is installed in the ground at water's edge and intercepts nitrogen and other contaminants already in the groundwater and prevents them from entering the bay.

What's particularly important about the DEP approval is the Commissioner's statement that "DEP is mindful of the financial challenges facing your constituents."

More than a few believe that DEP is indifferent to what an environmental solution costs taxpayers; the attitude has seemed to be, "Just do it, whatever it costs."

For those who think this, this statement is a dramatic endorsement of the success Matt Patrick is having in his work with the Governor, the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Commissioner Burt in getting them to recognize that cheaper alternatives to solve the nitrogen problem must be utilzed. If the EPA and national environmental organizations support the use of alternatives to centralized sewers such as decentralized systems, why shouldn't the DEP?

Continue reading "DEP, "MINDFUL OF FINANCIALS CHALLENGES FACING YOUR CONSTITUENTS," APPROVES COST-SAVING ALTERNATIVE WASTEWATER APPROACH"

Chatham selectmen, among other Cape Cod officials, keep warning that the Conservation Law Foundation will sue if they don't push ahead with their centralized sewer plans.

That's not true.

CLF was the major force behind the Boston Harbor clean-up solely using a centralized sewer system for the entire Greater Boston area that collected wastewater (and water from the water tables) and dumped it about nine miles out in Cape Cod Bay. As a consequence, Greater Boston reservoirs and streams today are experiencing smaller water flows.

What does CLF say today? Cape Cod towns should carefully look at low cost decentralized sewer systems and not be rushed into building big city-type sewer systems by municipal officials.

These quotes are from an article in the Cape Codder (Wicked Local Orleans) by Doreen Leggett on May 8, 2009:

Thinking small

If Conservation Law Foundation does sue, it won’t be to superimpose Boston Harbor’s solution on Cape Cod.

“The biggest lesson I learned from the Boston Harbor cleanup is we didn’t work hard enough to look at alternative approaches to wastewater,” said Peter Shelley, a vice president at CLF who was involved in the Boston Harbor suit.

Continue reading "CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION SAYS CAPE TAXPAYERS SHOULD LOOK AT ALTERNATIVES TO CENTRALIZED SEWERS FIRST"

Posted by Chatham Concerned Taxpayer on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 9:43 AM
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Decentralized sewer systems are mini-sewer systems. Rather than lay big pipes all over town, neighborhoods needing treatment can be serviced one by one, thus saving moving wastewater great distances to one place where the wastewater usually gets wasted by being dumped into the ocean. Decentralized sewers save taxpayer money. EPA favors decentralized sewers over centralized sewers as better for the environment and more affordable for communities. So does the Conservation Law Foundation and national environmental organizations such as Clean Water Action.

The first chart below shows how decentralized and centralized systems differ. The conventional centralized system lays big pipes deep under streets and drains all the wastewater to one location, as in Chatham's case above Cockle Cove, to drain into the cove and Nantucket Sound. Along the way it picks up a great deal of drinkng water from the water table, which also winds up wastedin Nantucket Sound.

Continue reading "DECENTRALIZED LOW COST SEWERS -- BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER"

PRESS RELEASE
DECEMBER 6, 2009

RETHINKING SEWERS ON CAPE COD: TAXPAYERS DEMAND PUBLIC OFFICIALS NOT WASTE MONEY ON UNNECESSARILYEXPENSIVE CENTRALIZED SEWERS

December 5, 2009--On a rainy Saturday just a few weeks before Christmas about 110 people from across Cape Cod gathered in Mashpee to learn about better, faster and cheaper ways to clean up the Cape’s waters of its excess nitrogen than with hugely expensive and disruptive conventional centralized sewer systems.

Officials and taxpayers, consultants and environmentalists from the towns of Chatham, Orleans, Dennis, Barnstable, Mashpee, Falmouth and Sandwich were in the audience as was Department of Environmental official David DeLorenzo.

The principal sponsor was the national environmental organization Clean Water Action, which claims 30,000 members in Massachusetts.

Representative Matt Patrick opened the proceedings by detailing the struggles faced by taxpayers he deals with on a daily basis and the impossibility of their being able to bear the cost of the centralized sewer system ($600 million) being proposed by Stearns & Wheler for his home town of Falmouth.

As Patrick said, “I don’t fault Stearns & Wheler. Their job is to make money and building these big sewer systems is a great way for them to do that.” It’s up to public officials to find ways to do the job cheaper.

Representative Patrick said that the billions it would take to build centralized sewer systems all over Cape Cod was a mad and unnecessary expenditure – even it were affordable, which it is not.

Continue reading "MASHPEE CONFERENCE ON SAVING MONEY ON SEWERS SMASH SUCCESS"

Despite the repeated urging, pleading even, of Chatham Concerned Taxpayers, Chatham town officials have to this point refused to even look at methods to clean up the coastal waters at far less cost to taxpayers than what they are planning.

Even though alternatives to the conventional, hugely expensive centralized sewer system used in densely populated big cities exist and can do the job just as well at far less cost, Chatham officials seem determined to spend at least $300 milliion of taxpayer money to install a townwide sewer system. For a town with about 6,500 residents, this has to be the most expensive sewer on Cape Cod.

It is not clear who decided to plan for a centralized sewer system that will cover the entire town when it isn't needed to solve the environmental problem that was the reason for starting the process in the first place.

There has been no town meeting vote to plan to spend $340 million to sewer the entire town.

There has been no town meeting vote to plan to spend $240 million to clean up the coastal waters rather than spend far less to solve the problem.

Surveys indicate Chatham taxpayers could save as much as $100 million (of the $240 million) in cleaning up their coastal waters, but the selectmen and town manager refuse to even consider these cost effective alternatives.

Whaat about the fiduciary duty to spend taxpayer money wisely?

An important workshop on alternatives to hugely expensive centralized sewers is taking place this Saturday, December 4, in Mashpee. It begins at 9 and ends at 4. For the program, directions and a short explanation of how decentralized systems work, click the link below.

Rethinking Sewers on Cape Cod.pdf

Even though Chatham town officials aren't interested in saving tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars in the task of cleaning up coastal waters from excess nitrogen, taxpayers all across the Cape, including in Chatham, are. Chatham Concerned Taxpayers is a workshop sponsor.

It seems as if many resident taxpayers had their assessments go up although the town's overall valuations remain roughly the same. Most of the increases appear to be in the valuation of land, not buildings.

We anticipate sharp increases in property taxes in the very near future. Chatham is already number one on Cape Cod in per capita spending for capital projects. If bonds are sold for the 38,000 square foot PD/Annex project ($17 million) and the sewer treatment plant upgrade ($50-$60 million) in this assessment period, debt outstanding will more than triple to about $100 million. (We had urged town officials to defer non-emergency capital projects until better economic times return, but they rejected that appeal.)

When debt service payment starts on these two projects, the cost of debt service on the property tax will go up more than 250% over what is in the budget for this fiscal year. So if you're paying $270 for debt service this year, expect the bill for debt service to be close to $700 when those payments start, if not more.

And, of course, we don't know what will be required for fiscal 2011 operations. CCT believes and so stated that the fiscal 2010 spending plan presented by town officials at the Annual Town Meeting was in substantial deficit, calling for spending $1 million, perhaps even more, than revenues expected to be received in fiscal 2010. CCT's call for fiscal prudence was ignored as compensation increases for public employees ranging as high as 6, 7 and 8% -- plus benefit increases -- were awarded. Almost all full-time town employees receive more in compensation than half the households in Chatham have income to live on.

So one should consider carefully whether to file for an abatement of assessment this time around.

The first real property tax bill to pay for fiscal 2010 will be going out in mid-December, we have been told. Abatement applications must be filed within 30 days thereafter.

Click on this link to obtain a copy of the Abatement Application form.

The new Chatham assessments are out!

These will be used for the next three years. They will be the measure of your property taxes when the debt service for Big Sewer begins to hit along with the debt service for the luxurious PD/Annex.

And, of course, your tax payment will go to pay for this fiscal year's spending, which soared far above that of fiscal 2009.

In case you forgot, this fiscal year's spending includes pay raises for all public sector employees, averaging around 6%, some as high as 7% and 8%. Plus increases in pensions and reimbursement for health insurance costs. You'd never know we're experiencing the worst recession since the 1930s.

Check you new assessment and compare it to your present assessment to see if it is higher, lower or the same. Having checked a sampling, some go up, some go down compared to prior years.

You have a week (through November 11th) to go to Town Hall to complain if you don't like what you see.

Later on, those thinking of abatements should know that there is a short window once the tax bills are sent out, so it's important to move promptly. You can download the Abatement Application form by clicking here. Your Abatement Application must be filed by the date your first (of two) tax payment is due. The due date will be on your property tax bill that will be in the mail in a few days in all likelihood.

Click on this link to find your new assessment number.

Cape Cod taxpayers are objecting to the staggering costs of centralized sewers to solve the nitrogen problem in coastal waters. Stearns & Wheler’s new number for Falmouth is $600 million, up from $500 million. The Stearns & Wheler number for Mashpee has been $550 million; maybe that will go up now, too. For just two Cape towns, the costs are over $1 billion before interest and the inevitable cost escalation. With 14 of the 15 Cape towns having to address a nitrogen loading problem, how many billions will centralized sewers cost?

Former State Representative Eric Turkington, who lives in Falmouth, is working with present State Representative Matt Patrick on getting the state Department of Environmental Protection more focused on less expensive alternatives to centralized sewers that are common in other U.S. states and in Canada that will do the nitrogen removal job just as well.

Mass. DEP has cold-shouldered these alternatives. We understand that DEP is now under orders from Secretary Ian Bowles to put these cost effective alternatives on an equal evaluation basis. The Office of the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the Department of Environmental Protection are attempting to fast-track an information session for Cape Cod on nitrogen removing cost effective alternatives for later this month.

The article by Mr. Turkington that appears below makes some financial comparisons to show the magnitude of the cost to Falmouth property owners of a Big Sewer solution. Using the same approach, the comparison for Chatham is far worse: Where Falmouth would be “quadrupling” its outstanding debt with funding for the centralized sewer ($150 million, adding $600 million), Chatham officials are proposing to add to our present debt of $30 million some $210 million or $300 million, depending on what year you stop counting. Those are seven-fold and 10-fold increases.

To the Chatham numbers can be added the $30 million cost to taxpayers for running the centralized system for the 20 years before it’s fully operational at the end of Phase 1.

And one cannot forget the individual property owner’s cost of connecting to the system: For the two-thirds of property owners that will be connected in Phase 1, that’s at least another $28 million.

What Turkington says about the centralized sewer cost crowding out other capital needs and constraining budget growth applies to Chatham as well. Bond payments will run out for 50 years.

It’s no wonder that Cape towns want less expensive alternatives and state officials are finally paying attention.

Continue reading "FALMOUTH DEMANDING ALTERNATIVES TO TOO EXPENSIVE BIG SEWER"

Chatham Concerned Taxpayers this past spring urged town officials to postpone capital projects until the economy turned around. Instead, they accelerated the massive $340 million sewer project and pressed ahead with the $17 million PD/Annex (a 38,000 square foot twin-building plan for a handful of town employees) so that the debt service for the two projects will begin hitting property taxes with a big bang soon. First year hit for the PD/Annex bonds will be about $160 and $250 for the first of many sewer bonds issues for the $600K household.

One thing is sure. Chatham property taxpayers are going to pay. Chatham is already an expensive place to live, forcing a steady migration of families out of town. Just since the year 2000 or so, the Chatham school population has plunged from about 700 to 500, some 30%.

Chatham is #1 on Cape Cod for per capita spending on capital projects. It will surge ahead even farther when the debt service for the first sewer bond and the PD/Annex bond hit in 2012 or 2013.

Debt service on the property tax in fiscal 2010 is only $2.7 million. If the first payments for these two bond issues come due in 2012, debt service on the property tax could leap as high as $9.2 million, depending on how the town does its accounting.

For the $600,000 householder, who paid about $253 in property taxes for debt service in fiscal 2010, that could mean an additional $611. In addition,of course, will be the annual increases for Proposition 2 1/2 and new growth, which add together add about 3.7% to the property tax each year.

The overall leap in property taxes from fiscal 2010 to 2012, say, could be 34% for all homeowners.

In fiscal 2012 it could be $9.2 million!! ($5.1m of existing debt + $2.5m for sewer bond + $1.6m for PD/Annex.) A 460% increase over fiscal 2009. (If the sewer bond of $50 million (assuming $10 million in stimulus aid) is at zero interest, the increase will "only" be 420%.)