PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE CHANGE IN COSTS TO THE SOUTH-CENTRAL SEWER DISTRICT

The Town of Hastings Town Board held a public hearing on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, to hear comments and concerns with regard to the change to the costs for the South-Central Sewer District. 

Board members present: Supervisor Tony Bush, Councilman Richard Waldron, Councilman Mark Martino, and Councilman John DeBottis 

Also present: Dustin Clark, Engineer with Barton & Loguidice; Jacqueline Novak, Engineer with Barton & Loguidice;Paul House, local County Legislator; Krista Lewis, Parks Manager; Michael Lewis, Highway Superintendent; Jason Burns, Director of code enforcement and community planning; and Erin Goodrich, Town Clerk.

Not present:  Councilman Alan Hanson

Supervisor Bush opened the public hearing at 7:03pm to listen to any public comments and concerns.

DISCUSSIONS

Dustin Clark started the discussion with an overview of the project so far and the timeline the Town will be looking forward to. He explained that currently the Town is going through the process of applying for funding for the project and this process takes one to one and half years to complete. After funding is secured, the construction will take between one to one and half years, looking for this project completion to be around 2028-2029. Dustin spoke also about the County’s plans to complete an Interceptor pipeline to have our Town’s current sewer systems connect into this new pipeline to divert the sewage to the treatment plant in Fulton, NY instead of the Town’s plant in Brewerton, which does not have the capacity to process the added sewage this new South-Central sewer district would add.

Public concerns revolved around the costs of this new district, especially in comparison to the current rates for the current districts. Dustin explained that preliminary numbers looked to cost the Town $600 a year in infrastructure costs and that usage would be another $150 a quarter for another $600 and year. This explanation got a lot of residents asking about vacant parcels, which was explained they would be responsible for the infrastructure costs whether they use the sewers or not. All residents present expressed very unhappy feelings towards that information, they “do not want to pay for something they don’t use”. The engineers and Town board members tried to assuage the residents’ negative feelings by pointing out that if or when they go to sell those vacant lots, they will get an added cost benefit by being able to sell them with public sewer available to the next owner to connect to. Most residents in attendance are current sewer users and were mostly directing their frustration with the latest price increase the Town had to implement to offset the rising costs of replacing or repairing the grinder pumps.  

Conversations moved to how costs will change after the Town hooks into the County’s pipeline, which Dustin thinks the cost would improve because it should lower the Towns’ cost to process the wastewater at their treatment plant in Brewerton. But the ultimate conundrum is that the Town needs more people to use the sewers to lower the rates and to do that they need to build more sewers, and they need the County’s pipeline to take the sewage to Fulton otherwise the Brewerton plant would not have enough room to treat the increased sewage that more users would create. 

A few residents asked about the plans for Gilder Road and their grinder pump use as a lot of the costs these sewer districts incur are from the repair or replacement of these grinder pumps. Most residents were not happy with the idea of using the same technology or equipment that is currently causing the Town a lot of expense, Dustin explained due to the elevations in the Town there is not a better option.

Overall, the residents expressed most concerns about having to pay for a service they don’t use, do to either their parcel being vacant or having a current and functional septic system. The Towns response was understanding, but the Town needs this sewer district to facilitate growth within the Town.

ADJOURNMENT

As the public hearing wrapped up, Supervisor Bush motioned to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Martino seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.

The public hearing adjourned at 7:45pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Erin Goodrich, Town Clerk