Town Board meets with congressman Wednesday to discuss options
Inlet Town Supervisor John Frey, along with Councilmen Herb Schmid and Bill Faro, met with Congressman Bill Owens (D-23rd District) on Wednesday, August 31 to discuss the possibility of receiving additional funding for the wastewater treatment plant project in Inlet.
According to Supervisor Frey, the three qualified bids that came in for the project were, on average, a million dollars over what the project engineers had originally projected them to be.
Frey cited the remote location of the project and a rise in construction costs and fuel prices as contributing to the funding gap.
The new water treatment plant is planned to be located within the Inlet Sewer District, which according to Frey was formed with a regulation that stated that all projects had to be grant-funded by at least 75 percent.
Frey said the Town of Inlet was able to secure a grant of $2.4 million for the project from the NYSDEC EFC (Environmental Facility Corporation) and the USDA Rural Development office, but that with a now estimated price tag of $3.6 million, the town will need to find additional funding.
After speaking with Owens, Frey said the congressman had pledged to do what he could to determine whether or not the USDA and EFC could help with the additional funding.
“Because of the current climate with monies, both on the state level and the federal level, and our timing with the recent infrastructure hits that New York has taken with Hurricane Irene, we are in a waiting game right now,” Frey said.
When the plans for the water treatment plant were first created, it was estimated that each household in the district would pay a rate of around $700 per household, according to Frey.
With the increased cost of the job, as reflected by the higher-than-expected project bids, the users would have to pay somewhere between $1,600 and $1,800 per household.
Frey explained that at this point, all of the agencies and engineers have been notified by letter and phone.
Following initial conversations, the Inlet Town Board remains hopeful that they will receive the monies they need, Frey said.
