CCB MEDIA PHOTOS
Joe Netto says selectmen need to make more contingencies for people who cannot afford the new sewer being installed in the Maravista and Falmouth Heights neighborhood.
FALMOUTH – Eric Turkington said Falmouth residents whose homes are on the new sewer line are getting quite a deal.
“The bottom line is, this town has gone through hoops to make this cost as little as possible, as little as anyone in Massachusetts has ever paid to hook up to a sewer and we’ve succeeded and that’s what happened tonight,” Turkington, who is chairman of the Falmouth Water Quality Management Committee, said after the meeting.
But the hundreds of people who showed up for a betterment hearing last night at Falmouth High School had a number of concerns about cost.
The $37 million sewer project will connect about 1,400 homes in the Maravista and Falmouth Heights neighborhoods to the new sewer line. The purpose of the sewer system is to help to clean up Little Pond, which Turkington said is one of the most impacted water bodies in Falmouth from nitrogen pollution flowing from septic systems.
Selectmen voted last night on several aspects of the betterment that will be assessed to pay for the sewer system. The town will pay 30 percent of the cost through property taxes. The remaining 70 percent will be paid by those whose properties will be hooked up to the sewer. The total cost will be about $16,000 to be paid over 30 years.
Sewer pipes are stacked up near the corner of Spring Bars Road and Worcester Court in advance of being installed in the Maravista neighborhood in Falmouth.
Turkington said that vote marks a milestone for the town. “It’s significant in that it solidifies what we’ve been working on over the last few years, which is to come up with a betterment cost that is probably the lowest ever in Massachusetts for homeowners who have to hook up to a sewer,” he said.
But, still, people had concerns about all the additional costs, from filling in an existing Title V or cess pool with sand to moving patios for the digging of the sewer pipe to paying plumbers and electricians as part of the hook up to the system.
Turkington acknowledged that many of those extra costs are unknown.
“Nobody can tell right now how much this is going to cost them. Every house is different. Every plumber is different. So a lot of them went out without an answer, because there is no answer,” he said.
Marc Finneran, a property owner in the sewer area who has been critical of the project, tried to speak about alternative ways to clean up nitrogen that would be less expensive, including widening the inlet.
But chairman of the Falmouth Board of Selectmen Douglas Jones said the topic was not part of the betterment discussion. Finneran continued to speak, so Jones called a recess of the meeting for several minutes.
“Recess is for children,” Finneran said.
Jones called the meeting back to order a few minutes later and continued the hearing.
Selectmen voted unanimously on the betterment. There will be a number of initiatives to help homeowners who cannot afford the cost, including loans, tax deductions, tax credits and tax deferrals, according to Turkington.
By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
