Bridgeport council to get hard sell on $395 million sewer upgrade
BRIDGEPORT — Lauren McBennett Mappa is hoping to seal the $395 million deal.
On Friday Mappa, who manages Bridgeport’s outdated wastewater treatment system, led a handful of City Council members on a tour of the West Side plant. She will also participate Saturday morning in an online “workshop” to answer outstanding questions that legislative body has about a proposed $395 million facilities upgrade.
“I hope I get the chance to really educate the council about what’s involved and why we need it,” Mappa said in an interview.
A divided council earlier this month tabled a vote authorizing the Water Pollution Control Authority obtain a $276.5 million loan and receive $118.5 million in federal grants to expand the West Side plant’s capacity and design a future overhaul of the East End treatment site.
The city is under orders by the state Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection to make infrastructure fixes to stop partially-treated wastewater from being released into local waterways and Long Island Sound during heavy rains, when storm water infiltrates and overwhelms Bridgeport’s sewer system. A state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection representative is
scheduled to participate in Saturday’s meeting.
What gave several council members pause was the prospect of a spike in user fees over time. After holding bills steady for several years, the WPCA increased the average household’s current yearly sewer cost to $490. And under what Mappa has called a worstcase
scenario, that amount would rise to $816 by 2027 and $1,064 by 2033 to help pay back the $276.5 million loan.
While the council’s budget committee backed the $395 million project, some of the full council’s members argued they wanted an opportunity to learn more. So Mappa helped organize the Friday and Saturday events.
The council, according to its president, Aidee Nieves, will then be expected to reconsider the $395 million request at its next meeting April 5.
“They can vote however they’re gonna vote,” Mappa said Thursday. “But I want them to understand what they're voting for. How badly we need it. We’re past ‘shelf life’ here.”
Though all 20 were invited, only five council members, according to Nieves, showed up Friday: Herself, Scott Burns, Jorge Cruz, Ernie Newton and Maria Pereira, along with state Rep. Jack Hennessy.
Nieves said the tour only reinforced her support for the plant overhaul, noting they were shown equipment “from back in the ‘70s.”
“That’s not effective use of infrastructure,” Nieves said. “This needs to be done.”
And Cruz concluded, “It needs serious work . ... I’m looking forward to supporting it (the project).”
Hennessy said afterward,
“We have to do this construction. It’s definitely needed in order to improve water quality.” But, he added, “I’m absolutely not in favor of rolling the expense over to ratepayers already paying too much. My concern is to get federal and state dollars to pay for this.”
Councilman Marcus Brown was unable to attend but said he hoped Saturday’s discussion would focus in part on efforts to obtain other sources of funding, noting the benefits to Long Island Sound. “This is Long Island Sound,” he said. “It’s not owned by the city of Bridgeport. Why should we be the only ones footing the bill?”
The WPCA’s $395 million proposal would also impact Trumbull. For years, that neighboring town, with no sewage plant of its own, has used Bridgeport’s plant. In 2016, the city and Trumbull entered into a new 10-year agreement which phased out a controversial discount provided Trumbull’s 10,300 customers.
Jorge Estrada, Trumbull’s public works director who used to hold that position in Bridgeport, testified before the council this month that there were “informal conversations” over the past year but Trumbull never received “official notification a capital project of this magnitude is moving forward at this time.”