Authority must deal with looming sewer debt

OXFORD >> Oxford Borough Council members had a long discussion at their Sept. 12 meeting before voting to advertise their participation in a special meeting Sept. 28 that could decide the fate of the Oxford Area Sewer Authority.

The joint municipal with the borough and other authority members — Lower Oxford, East Nottingham and West Nottingham — will consider a joint municipal agreement to create a committee that would examine possible options to deal with the sewer system’s financial problems including a change in operations or ownership.

The authority has recently missed making payments on a $27 million United States Department of Agriculture loan, leaving the member municipalities potentially on the hook for the costs, since they are guarantors on the loan.

The authority has increased sewer rates by 30 percent, but that may not be enough to correct the problem.

At this point, the new committee would only be charged with investigating the options that might be available to the municipalities. That will likely involve legal fees, engineers and consultants with a cost limit of $10,000 shared equally between the four municipalities.

While the borough council members do not object to dividing these committee costs equally, if the process continues further, council members want a bigger share of the decision making. “We have a lot more at stake in the game to have one vote in four,” council member Randy Grace said.

The borough is committed to

responsibility for 44 percent of the sewer authority’s debt and has most of the existing sewer system rate payers. “If this committee had a different purpose

it would concern me,” Grace said.

Other business on the agenda included a discussion of possibly closing Octorara Alley alongside the Octorara Hotel.

That section of the alley has been closed for months during the reconstruction of the hotel,

which was damaged by fire last year. As it comes closer to completion of the exterior, it has been noted that there is not room to replace the old sidewalk along the alley in a wide enough form to meet current standards without making the roadway too narrow to use.

“It’s a safety factor in my opinion,” Councilman Paul Matthews said.

The hotel may have a proposal to use the space if the alley is closed, but council wants to hear from all sides, including the Oxford Presbyterian Church, which abuts the other side of the alley.