Municipal News

November 1, 2008

Water ballot question called vital

Voters are asked to decide Tuesday on borrowing $400 million for water, sewers.

As the economy falls into a recession, it might not feel like the right time to saddle state taxpayers with another $400 million in debt, but that’s exactly what John Hanger, the acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, wants Pennsylvania voters to do.

Along with the heated election choices on the Nov. 4 ballot, voters will be asked if the state should float a bond to pay for water and sewer infrastructure upgrades. The money would go into the coffers of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, or PENNVEST, to distribute mostly as it already does, with a few changes, for infrastructure upgrades.

Hanger’s quite aware of the public’s potential obliviousness to the issue – much of the problem is out of sight, anyway – and their potential reluctance to spend money right now to fix it. But that’s exactly the opposite of how voters should be thinking, he said during a stop in Wilkes-Barre last week.

“In economic terms, the case for this is much stronger than if times were good,” he said.

First, it has the benefit of repairing aging water- and sewage-treatment infrastructure, like pipes and filtration equipment, that pose health and environmental threats if they break, he said.

Second, the money will reduce project costs for the water and sewer authorities, which will have a corresponding effect on ratepayers’ bills. Additionally, the millions will be funneled right back into the economy with construction contracts likely going to local contractors, he said.

Finally, the state would retain control over a cleanup process that Hanger said will likely receive federal scrutiny in the near future if nothing’s done. Many communities in the state, including those throughout Luzerne County, are in the Susquehanna River watershed, which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.

The erosion, runoff and sewage that flows into the river gets transported away, and “it’s killing the Chesapeake Bay,” Hanger said. “The bay is in bad shape.”

Because of that, the Chesapeake Bay Commission was formed by the three states in the watershed – New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland – to reduce the nutrient load clogging the bay. Though enforcement is still on a state level, Hanger noted the federal Clean Water Act could soon put regulatory control in the hands of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. “We’d lose that important local authority to make our own decisions,” he said.

Cleanliness isn’t just helpful to the bay; it’ll help local waters sustain wildlife and remain natural attractions.

The bonds, which typically are paid back within 20 years, would be offered in early 2009, making the extra funding from PENNVEST available perhaps by late 2009, he said. Authorities like the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority could apply for money to separate sewers from storm water outfalls and upgrade aging filtration systems that don’t conform to the standards required by the bay commission. But farmers could potentially snag the money, too, to pay for riparian buffers, stream restoration where livestock has caused bank erosion, which studies show is a substantial source of pollution in the bay.

Hanger agreed that his department needs to consider ways to increase its regulation of water and sewer infrastructure, poor installation of which can saddle taxpayers with hefty repair bills, but he also acknowledged that the department can investigate other potential revenue sources, such as increasing fees on gas and oil permits.

THE BALLOT QUESTION

This question will appear on the ballot throughout Pennsylvania.

Vote yes or no:

Do you favor the incurring of indebtedness by the Commonwealth of $400,000,000 ($400 million) for grants and loans to municipalities and public utilities for the cost of all labor, materials, necessary operational machinery and equipment, lands, property, rights and easements, plans and specifications, surveys, estimates of costs and revenues, prefeasibility studies, engineering and legal services and all other expenses necessary or incident to the acquisition, construction, improvement, expansion, extension, repair or rehabilitation of all or part of drinking water system, storm water, nonpoint source projects, nutrient credits and wastewater treatment system projects?

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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