Spencerport officials seeking
public input on proposed projects
Public meeting Oct. 27 to discuss big ticket items

The Village of Spencerport officials need to make some important and difficult decisions and they are seeking public feedback and input before those decisions are set in stone.

"We're looking at two initiatives which, combined, could be in the neighborhood of $10 to $14 million," Village of Spencerport Administrator Al Scheg said. "We're looking to the public for guidance on these two critical issues."

The first issue on the agenda is the village's waste water treatment facility The facility, built in the early 1960s, processes sewage from the village and from a few areas of the Town of Ogden that are adjacent to the collection system. Sewage is treated, runs into Northrup Creek to Long Pond and eventually into Lake Ontario. "It's getting increasingly more expensive for us to stay in the wastewater treatment business," Scheg said. "We have an aging treatment plant that is seeing the end of its useful life."

The village has to make a decision to either put "major" money into rebuilding and expanding the facility to meet the ever-increasingly tight state and federal guidelines or turn it over to the Monroe County Pure Waters. The village would still own and maintain its collection system pipes in the ground and the manholes but it would no longer process the treatment portion of the system.

The project, Scheg said, wouldn't affect taxes but it would impact the sewer usage rate. "Rates would be adjusted upward, primarily to pay down a 20-year debt for what we feel is going to be somewhere around a $6 to $7 million expenditure," he said. "Our best guess is sewer user rates would rise somewhere between $100 and $200 per year."

What if the village continued on status quo? "It's a more expensive option," Scheg said. "In today's dollars, it would cost close to $7 million in terms of the base project but the costs down the road would be the huge difference."

One of the most compelling reasons to make the switch to Monroe County Pure Waters is environmental, Scheg said.

The second issue Spencerport is looking at involves a 30-year global plan on road work and maintenance. "We put together a street program so we know how much to capitalize each year in terms of road improvements and maintenance," Scheg said of the 30-year plan.

While the village does already do routine maintenance and repair of its streets, this project looks at maintaining and improving streets under a quantified program which, Scheg said, officials believe will improve the village's overall network and in the long run will cost less money in maintenance. "Under this program we will be able to maintain our streets at a high level for less money but to get there we will have to spend a bit of money up front," he said. The up front money could range anywhere from $4 to $7 million over a five to 10 year period. The village collects $300,000 from property tax revenues for the general fund - not a large amount compared to the work that is done in the village on an annual basis. They also receive about $28,000 from the state's Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs) program. "This proposed road program will definitely impact taxes and will impact them negatively," Scheg said.

To put into perspective, Scheg said, if the village doesn't commit to spending the $4-7 million it will cost more in the long run. "It costs close to 10 times as much to rebuild a road than it does to maintain it," he said.

Road improvement and maintenance projects have a positive impact on the village in that having well maintained streets impact civic pride and helps maintain property values, he said.

"We have a quaint village and we want to maintain it and maintain a good sense of community so people take pride in it and in the ownership of their homes," Scheg said. "It's a win-win situation."

The projects could begin as early as next year, he said.

A public hearing on the proposed projects is scheduled for Wednesday, October 27 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Fire Hall, 175 Lyell Avenue. The sanitary initiative will be presented first followed by the street improvement program which will begin at 8 p.m.