The state announced a $1.4 million grant Friday to fund a study into whether several Valley communities can regionalize sewage treatment plants.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced the grant as part of $4.3 million in state funds to regional councils of government throughout Connecticut with a view “to assist towns and cities throughout the state in reducing costs and burdens by providing support for their efforts to regionalize services.”
The state grant will be used “to conduct a study of the consolidation of the Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Beacon Falls, and Naugatuck wastewater facilities,” according to a press release from Malloy’s office.
Ansonia and Derby have been talking about consolidating sewage treatment services for years.
Ansonia built a new, $53 million sewage treatment plant off North Division Street in 2011, and in 2014 Derby sought — and received — voter approval to fund more than $30 million in repairs and improvements to its own system.
But the Derby work hasn’t been started yet in full force, as the city tries to deal with an order from state environmental regulators to look into modernizing its own treatment facility or pump sewage elsewhere.
Rick Dunne, the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, said the grant announced Friday is “a first step in reducing the burden on taxpayers statewide.”
“These plants are likely facing more than a half-billion dollars in facility upgrades over the next few years. We hope to cut that number by 50 to 75 percent and reduce daily operating costs by regionalizing the system,” Dunne said. “We have too many of these facilities facing too many upgrades and requiring too many dollars to operate – we need to find ways for cities to work together to reduce operating costs.
“Regionalizing services like wastewater treatment gets Connecticut’s municipalities working closer to the cost-effective scale that is prevalent in competing states with regional or county government,” Dunne went on.
In the statement released Friday, Malloy said towns and cities have to do more to economize.
Questions over state aid to municipalities was a major sticking point as lawmakers recently wrapped up the state’s budget.
Click here to read more about the state aid issue from a story by CTMirror.org.
“In this new economic reality, it is crucial that we remain steadfast in our commitment to improve and streamline the way that government works at every level,” Malloy said. “These grants will encourage municipalities and regions to rethink the way they provide local services – resulting in more efficiencies and smaller costs for taxpayers.”
“Regionalization of services is not only cost-effective and economical, it is smart policy,” Ben Barnes, the secretary of the state’s Office of Policy and Management, said. “As we continue to make difficult decisions about funding services at the state level, we must support municipalities and regions that are coming together to coordinate and provide important services to residents while saving taxpayer dollars.”
State Sen. Joseph Crisco and state Rep. Linda Gentile also released a statement welcoming the funds.
“The timing of this grant could not be more appropriate,” Gentile said. “The need for regional efficiencies is crucial. As the state and municipalities struggle economically, this is exactly the kind of project that will save us significant dollars … I look forward to the results of the study and look forward to identifying additional regional opportunities to save even more money.”
“There are some families and businesses in Connecticut that are getting by because they have found ways to economize and make their dollars go further. That’s what these state grants help our cities and towns do – economize and make a dollar go farther,” Crisco said. “One of the most beneficial aspects of these grants is that, once these savings are achieved, they go on forever, creating cost avoidances into the future. So it’s not just a savings for one year, but year after year.”
The full list of grants announced Friday:
- Lower CT River Valley Council of Governments – Regional Wetlands Data Set ($95,000): This grant will provide for current, accurate mapping of wetland boundaries for the region.
- Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments – Regional Waste Water Treatment Study ($1,350,000): These funds will be used to conduct a study of the consolidation of the Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Beacon Falls, and Naugatuck wastewater facilities.
- Northeastern CT Council of Governments – Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Study, Phase II ($100,000): A study will be conducted to examine, in consultation with current service providers, alternatives to the current health care delivery system, and to make recommendations to enhance patient care.
- Northeastern CT Council of Governments – Regional Household Hazardous Waste Facility ($708,500): This grant will provide funds to construct and operate an indoor regional household hazardous waste facility that will serve all 16 member towns.
- Northeastern CT Council of Governments – Enhanced Regional Animal Services Facility (Expansion and Code Compliance) ($608,000): These funds will be used to bring the regional animal care facility in compliance with state standards, add capacity, and improve animal welfare.
- Northwest Hills Council of Governments – Rural Broadband & Mobile Enhancement: Technology and Business Model Study ($200,000): This grant will fund a study with the goal of developing a technology and business model to provide high speed broadband and mobile coverage services to the Northwest Hills Region as well as four towns in the northern end of the Western CT Council of Governments region.
- Northwest Hills Council of Governments – Litchfield Hills Animal Shelter Facility Design and Engineering ($110,000): Phase 2 of this project (following the region’s Animal Shelter Feasibility Analysis funded by an RPI grant in 2012) will include facility design and engineering.
- REX Development – Regional Economic Development Asset Mapping ($130,150): These funds will be used for an asset mapping study for the South Central CT Council of Governments in order for each municipality in the region to build upon and coordinate those assets for the betterment of the region.
- REX Development – Regional Revenue Sharing Study ($73,900): This grant will fund a study on the implementation of a regional revenue sharing structure.
- Southeastern CT Council of Governments – Regional Community Rating Feasibility Study ($200,000): These funds will be used to develop a model for member municipalities to use to become Community Rating System-certified under the National Flood Insurance Program, which would allow participating municipalities to reduce flood insurance rates for their citizens while implementing activities to reduce losses caused by flooding.
- Southeastern CT Council of Governments – Regional Human Services Study ($150,000): This grant will fund a study of services, redundancies, and gaps in service provided by southeastern Connecticut’s non-profit human services agencies to identify partnerships that can improve services and reduce costs.
- South Central Regional Council of Governments – Regional Open Space Inventory ($74,228): These funds will be used for development of a parcel-level inventory of public and private open space parcels in the South Central Region.
- Western CT Council of Governments – Snow Plow Routing Study and Development ($254,782): This study would find the optimal route for snow plows and disseminate that information to participating municipalities.
