City must agree to finance sewer work before seeking more grants

The city could seek additional grants to fund a project to separate the sewer and stormwater systems in a portion of the Hasbrouck Combined Sewer Overflow system in Downtown Kingston but must first agree to finance the entire cost of the work.

Sean Koester, the city’s environmental specialist, told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee last week that Kingston could apply for a Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant from the state Environmental Facilities Corporation to help offset the cost of the sewer separation project.

He said the council has already approved the first two phases of work on the project and the city just recently applied for grant funding through the state’s Consolidated Funding Application program. The city received $600,000 in grants through the Consolidated Funding Application last year for the first phase of the work, Koester added.

“One of the considerations for the Environmental Facilities Corporation grant application process for this program is that bond approval for the entire project needs to happen before you can submit an application,” Koester said. “They don’t want to award funding for a project that’s not going to happen.” He said the application is due next month.

Koester said for the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant he was considering phase one and phase two of the sewer separation together as one project.

The Hasbrouck Combined Sewer Overflow system generates 92 percent of the wastewater discharged into the Rondout Creek in a typical year, Koester has previously said. He said removing the stormwater inflow from the system would reduce overflows to the creek, which would improve its water quality. It also would reduce costs at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, Koester said.

Koester said the city has gone through several iterations of studies on the Hasbrouck Combined Sewer Overflow system, which led to a report that calls for a five-phase plan for separating the sewer and stormwater. He said the total cost of the full separation project is approximately $28 million and would take several years.

The work under phase one and two would be in the area of Rondout Drive and provide the backbone for future sewer and stormwater separations, Koester said. He said nothing else could be done without this infrastructure being put in place first.

The first two phases of the work would cost approximately $3.469 million and the city has already approved borrowing $130,000 for the design on phase one, Koester said. He said if the city is successful in each of its grant applications the final cost to Kingston would be approximately $943,000.

“We’re just trying to take advantage of these grant resources to reduce the cost,” Koester said.

In response to Koester’s request, the committee endorsed resolutions authorizing the city to borrow the additional $3.339 million in funding to cover the cost of the first two phases of the project and to allow the mayor’s office to apply for $717,250 in grant funding. Those resolutions must still be approved by the full council, which meets again on Sept. 9.