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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 12/21/1964BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING DECEMBER 21, 1964 The Board of Selectmen of the Town of South Burlington held a special meeting on Monday, December 21, 1964, at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Municipal Building at 555 Dorset Street, South Burlington, Vermont. MEMBERS PRESENT Vincent J. D'Acuti, Chairman, Ralph B. Goodrich, Augustus T. Stannard, Stephen Whittlesey, and Robert Ashley. OTHERS PRESENT Irving L. Douglas, Town Manager, Mr. William Szymanski and Mr. Philip Doherty, both of Webster-Martin, Inc., and Reginald A. LaRosa of the Department of Water Resources. REVIEW OF THE SEWERAGE PLAN Mr. Douglas, Town Manager, held a meeting with Mr. Townshend, Financial Officer of the HHFA, in New York on Friday, December 18, 1964. Such questions as what would be the total cost to the Town for this Sewerage Plan; what method of financing the cost of the project is the Town going to adopt; what is the Town's present indebtedness; how much has the Grand List of the Town of South Burlington increased during the past year, and who are the largest taxpayers in the Town of South Burlington, were asked by Mr. Townshend. Alternate Plan #II was submitted to the HHFA as a possible way of financing the Sewerage plans, and as it was compared with the application submitted by the Town of South Burlington sometime ago, Mr. Townshend stated that he thought the method proposed for financing the sewerage project was very sound and liked the plan very much. He suggested, however, that the Board of Selectmen set a usage rate, and if a surplus occurred, that such surplus be turned over to pay for the general indebtedness of the Sewerage Plan. Such a plan would have to be set up under an Ordinance. At the present time such surplus money goes for maintenance costs. Although the Town of South Burlington was to have had their report to the HHFA by the end of December, 1964, Mr. Townshend will accept the report that Mr. Douglas recently discussed with him on Friday, December 18th, and the Town may submit a final report about January 5th of 1965. It was further suggested that if the Town should adopt another method for financing the sewerage project, that the Town would notify the HHFA of its new plan as soon as possible. Mr. Goodrich raised the question: What are the necessary evils of the present method of financing the sewerage project? Mr. Douglas replied that as far as he could see, the users of the sewerage system would be in the same category as the residents of Laurel Hill Section are now. There are many advantages for users and non-users in the proposed Alternate #II Plan. Mr. Whittlesey wanted to know what percentage of the total Grand List comes from the residential and commercial areas that will receive full benefit of the sewerage project? Mr. Douglas replied that according to the Grand List of property that the Town's highest taxpayers are located in the Shelburne Road area, and gave as an example the Green Mountain Power Corporation. At this point Mr. Doherty spoke of the figures that his office had gathered for Mr. Goodrich, and these figures were compared with the ones used in Mr. Douglas' report. Mr. Douglas had used figures as quoted to him from Mr. Doherty in November of this year. It was Mr. Goodrich's belief that the members of the Board would have to not only agree that they have found a good method for financing the Sewerage project but must believe in its benefit to the Town in general in order to properly present the plan for the project and the method of financing it to the people of South Burlington. Also Mr. Goodrich felt that the miscellaneous costs, construction costs not included, should be paid for by the taxpayer. Mr. Whittlesey felt that the Board should figure somewhat on what the future use of the project would be. He asked Mr. Doherty how many more homes could be serviced under the present design of the sewerage system? Mr. Doherty said that this question had been considered when the plans were drawn up. Mr. LaRosa of the Department of Water Resources stated that the Town of South Burlington was unique in that this town is starting out without a sewerage system, and that most of the other towns within the state had some type of sewerage system on which to further plans for their towns. Mr. LaRosa discussed how other towns had handled their sewerage projects, and stated that it was found that rather than raising the Grand List after the project had been completed, that the Fair Market Value of the property held over the years. He felt that each town would have to find a plan to finance their proposed projects according to the methods best suited to their respective towns. He said many of the towns had paid only on the interest of the bond and not on the principal itself and that the majority of the towns had helped finance their sewerage projects by using the water rent they received. Mr. Stannard stated that the sewerage project would add about 10% to the real estate value of the property and this in turn would add to the Grand List of the Town in the future. He also said that many of the property owners of Fire District #4 would not be pleased with the present sewerage proposal from a financial standpoint. Mr. Douglas stated that the Town of South Burlington would be very dependent upon the residents of Fire District #4 to pay for this project and that the project would have to be presented to these residents very diplomatically in order to gain their support. Mr. Stannard again raised the question, if the new sewerage system is accepted by the people of South Burlington, would the Grand List be raised? Mr. Douglas said that it would not as the sewerage project would not be completed until 1968, and that it has only been a short time since the property had been appraised. It was suggested by Mr. Douglas that the local banks be consulted about the sewerage project, concerning the evaluation of the property in South Burlington. APPROVED Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.