Council approves sewer increase

17.5 percent fee hike would help pay for state-ordered work

TROY, N.Y. >> City sewer users will see an increase in their next bill after the City Council on Thursday night gave their approval to a 17.5 percent increase that officials say will ensure the will be able to complete their part of a state- ordered, regional plan to cut down on sewage discharges into the Hudson River.

By a vote of 6-3, the council approved a proposal that changes the formula the city uses to calculate its sewer rate from 75 percent of its water rate to 100 percent, resulting in an increase in the sewer rate from $2.92 per 1,000 gallons to $3.43. Republican council President Carmella Mantello was joined by the council’s two other at-large members, fellow Republican Kimberly Ashe-McPherson and Democrat Erin Sullivan-Teta, in opposition.

Officials have said the increase will add about $40 to the annual bill for the average homeowner, but could help the city avoid a much larger bill if it fails to complete its portion of the $140 million, multi-municipality plan developed at the behest of the state Department of Environmental Conservation that specifically targets the release of sewage into the river whenever stormwater systems in the cities of Albany, Cohoes, Rensselaer, Troy and Watervliet and the village of Green Island are overwhelmed by heavy rain

or other runoff. The rate hike, would guarantee the city continues to meet its commitment to the project at least through the next three or four years.

The local cost of the combined sewage outflow project was also responsible for a nearly 50 percent sewer rate hike in 2013 and a 31 percent jump two years later.

“This is something the state put on the city,” said Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2. “We were told it had to be done in a certain way by a specific time, and if we didn’t, they were going to fine us $10,000 a day. I wish there was another way. The governor [Andrew Cuomo] likes to say he’s cleaning up New York, but we’re paying for it.”

The proposal was initially introduced in November, as the council was in the midst of contentious negotiations on the 2017 city budget, and members agreed to delay consideration until that budget was in place. The Public Utilities Committee gave its approval Feb. 28, and the Finance Committee narrowly signed off on it earlier Thursday night after Councilman Jim Gulli, RDistrict 1, voted in favor after originally opposing the increase.

Gulli explained Thursday night that his initial opposition arose from his desire for additional information, especially about alternatives such as a gradual phase-in over two or more years. After meeting with Deputy City Comptroller Andrew Piotrowski and Public Utilities Commissioner Chris Wheland, however, he agreed with their assessment that the increase needed to implemented immediately to ensure the city has sufficient funding for its proportion of the work.

“It’s inevitable, it’s unfortunate, but it’s necessary,” he said Thursday

night.

Both the state Comptroller’s Office and an independent auditor hired by the council last year recommended the city set up a reserve account to set aside money to repay the bonds, but Mantello has said that while she agrees with those recommendations, she envisioned that account being filled with state and federal grant money and other revenue that doesn’t come directly from city residents. At Thursday’s meeting, she advocated for phasing the increase in.

“Maybe it’s pennies to some people, but it’s a 17 ½-percent increase on top of a 14 ½-percent [ property] tax increase [in the 2017 city budget],” she said. “People are feeling the crunch, and anything I can do to stop the bleeding, I think we should do.”

Public Utilities Committee chairman John Donohue, R-District 6, criticized that reasoning as political and likely to cost taxpayers more in the long run.

“That type of thinking has put us in difficult positions [in the past],” he said. “Not doing it would be a worse decision than doing it. It’s not a political decision; it’s a busi-

ness decision. The problem with the city of Troy is that we’ve bene underfunding things forever.”

Officials also pointed out Thursday that while the property tax increase in the city budget didn’t apply to tax- exempt city properties, the sewer rate increase would be borne by any property owner that uses the service. The rate hike would cost St. Peter’s Health Partners — which operates both Samaritan and St. Mary’s hospitals, as well as other health care facilities around the city — and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute about an additional $61,000 a year, officials have estimated.

Wheland has also said the city has already saved about $1 million on its costs by using its own crews to perform some project-related work, such as upgrades to the stormwater system in and around Monument Square in downtown Troy. The city is also talking to neighboring Watervliet and Green Island about allowing them to use Troy municipal workers, which he said would not only save money for those communities, but also allow Troy to recoup some of its costs.