Image made with Canva.com using a still shot from a City of Ansonia YouTube video.
ANSONIA – Utility company Aquarion is set to become the owner and operator of all wastewater assets in Ansonia in December, according to a sale agreement signed between Aquarion and the city on June 21.
This will make Ansonia the second city in Connecticut to sell its sewer system to a private company. New Hartford did the same, also to Aquarion, late last year.
The sale agreement includes $41 million to be paid to the city, as well as a promise to invest $15 million into the wastewater system over the next five years. It also requires Aquarion to set its sewer rates according to a schedule shown to residents in May.
Under the new ownership, a 34 percent rate increase will take effect gradually over the next five years. A single-family home currently paying $41.47 per month will continue paying that amount next year, increasing to $55.71 by 2029.
Officials: Change Of Ownership Wouldn't Impact Deal
Aquarion itself may be sold in the near future, but officials from involved parties said a sale would not affect the deal between Aquarion and Ansonia.
The state Senate approved a bill June 26 that would allow South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) to place a bid to purchase Aquarion. It goes to the state House next. Click here for a story from The CT Mirror.
Kevin Watsey, a spokesperson for the RWA, told the Valley Indy in an email that the utility company has authorization to operate wastewater utilities and that the sale wouldn’t affect its ability to bid on Aquarion.
“Under our current enabling legislation, the RWA is authorized to operate wastewater systems,” Watsey wrote. “As part of our due diligence of the Aquarion systems, we will fully evaluate the New Hartford and Ansonia wastewater systems.”
Peter Fazekas, an Aquarion spokesperson, separately told the Valley Indy that any purchase of Aquarion – including by the RWA – would have no impact on the deal between the company and the city.
Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini also said that an RWA acquisition “would not impact the substantive terms of this agreement.”
The Ansonia Sale Details
The Ansonia Board of Aldermen voted to approve the sale in May, following a public session in April in which about two dozen residents, including current Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) employees and former city officials, voiced their opposition to the sale.
Two Aldermen – Dan King and Chicago Rivers, who each sit on the WPCA Board – voted against the sale.
Members of Mayor David Cassetti’s administration say the sale will benefit residents by offloading responsibilities to maintain and upgrade the plant to a private company. They point to a 2019 NVCOG report which said the city’s plant will require $15 million in repairs and investments by 2040.
City officials said in a document provided to residents that they project needing to increase rates by 157 percent to facilitate these repairs and hire more staff if they were to retain control. The plant is consistently understaffed – at one point, it was down to one full-time employee, while the WPCA’s own documents say that it should have eight.
Not everyone agrees with the city’s view, including the current sewer administrator, Jason St. Jacques, who said during the April public hearing that the city is overestimating costs and overstating the poor conditions at the plant.
“The plant is in great shape. Some paint is falling off, yes, we have a couple motors that are down,” St. Jacques said at that hearing. “These are things that we can afford, we can replace, we can fix, over time. They don’t have to be done right away. I don’t see $15 million in repairs needed.”
Following the signing of the deal, Aquarion is required to pay $5 million of the purchase price upfront, and the remaining $36 million once the deal closes in December. That $5 million payment was scheduled to arrive June 27, according to Marini.
The Timetable
Critics of the deal have alleged that the process was rushed in order to fill past holes in city budgets.
In New Hartford, the sewer sale process took six years, from the start of negotiations in December 2017, to a town-wide referendum in 2021, to the closing of the deal in October 2023.
Ansonia’s Board of Aldermen entered into negotiations with Aquarion in February of this year. If the deal proceeds as laid out in the agreement, then the deal will be closed in December, less than ten months after that initial vote.
Former Alderwoman Tara Kolakowski said that Ansonia should have followed in New Hartford’s footsteps by holding a referendum of its own.
“This is too big and too important to the city for fourteen members to shoulder this decision,” Kolakowski said before the Aldermen voted to authorize the sale.“I firmly believe that tabling this is in the best interest of every resident and in the best interest of the city.”
The city has defended its decision not to go out to a referendum, saying that it has followed the legal steps to sell city-owned assets as laid out in the Ansonia City Charter.
Opponents have also pointed to a $5 million line item titled “use of future revenue” in the budget passed by the Aldermen last year. That’s money the city doesn’t have, but can get by doing things such as selling its sewer system to a private company.
Mayor Cassetti previously indicated that money from the Aquarion sale could serve as that ‘future revenue,’ though city attorney Marini and budget director Kurt Miller both said at the time that the sewer sale is unrelated.
The $5 million upfront payment from Aquarion arrives in the final days of that budget. The new budget, which includes $7.4 million in ‘future revenue’ and was passed by the Aldermen in May, will take effect July 1.
