OLD LYME–The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen’s plan to hire a third-party accountant to review cost estimates for the Sound View Beach sewer project has raised concerns that delaying a townwide referendum could put millions in state funding at risk.
The selectmen on Monday during its regular meeting reaffirmed a plan to bring in a consulting accountant to analyze various budget projections for Sound View’s portion of a total $70 million sewer installation project to be shared by four beach communities.
First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said she needs more clarity on the financials before asking voters to approve it at a townwide referendum.
“I know that no one in government will go forward with any type of referendum on a budget application unless they know that these numbers are firm,” Shoemaker said. “I am not putting it to a referendum resolution until it’s taken care of.”
She said it’s already too late to put the issue on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election based on scheduling deadlines from the Office of the Secretary of the State.
The Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), which oversees the Sound View project, has been pushing for townwide approval before construction bids expire in mid-October. Meanwhile, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is warning that roughly half of the project cost is in jeopardy if the town misses the Oct. 15 deadline.
Shoemaker said the selectmen are also waiting to see how the finances play out for the Miami Beach Association, where bids came in about $5 million higher than expected last month, and for the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association, which is in the process of going out to bid.
Lampos after the meeting said the cost estimates under review came from the Old Lyme WPCA, its engineer Fuss & O’Neill, residents, and state officials.
On Tuesday evening, Shoemaker said over the phone that she hired an accountant in consultation with the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning organization. The consultant, whose firm she could not specify while away from her desk, will start on Sept. 16.
The move comes after upwards of 60 people gathered in the Lyme-Old Lyme High School auditorium late last month for a contentious back-and-forth between Old Lyme WPCA Chairman Steve Cinami and residents of the Sound View Beach area.
A major concern was the uncertainty over how much each Sound View homeowner will have to pay. They also cited a lack of current testing to show a pollution problem exists and questioned why Hawk’s Nest Beach and White Sand Beach were excluded from the project.
CT DEEP Spokesman James Fowler in a Tuesday email said the town will still be obligated to address “community pollution problems that can arise from areas of substandard septic systems” even if they lose their state and federal funding by failing to act quickly.
“The Department will be reaching out to the Town this week to set up a meeting to discuss next steps and timing, as we look to continue to assist the Town with resolving this important issue,” he wrote.
‘With or Without the Town’
Scott Boulanger, chairman of the Miami Beach WPCA, told LymeLine in a Tuesday phone interview that the association is trying to figure out how to proceed “with or without the town.”
Acknowledging the Miami Beach costs came in higher than expected, he said the project will only become more expensive once the existing bids expire.
“If this doesn’t go through in October, everything would have to go out to bid again, which basically says the cost is going to be escalated even more,” he said.
He said he is working with officials from the other beach associations and the CT DEEP on potential ideas to save money, such as eliminating parts of the project for now.
The state, going back to the early 1980s, has pushed for an end to pollution emanating from local beach communities, leading to a 2018 consent order with the three private beach associations that resulted in the current shared sewer plan. Sound View Beach, which is under Town control, was added in 2019 after taxpayers across the town agreed to spend $9.5 million on the public portion of the project with the understanding that affected neighborhoods would fund it.
The town so far has been participating voluntarily in the sewer plan under the threat of a consent order from the state.
Now, inflationary costs have triggered the need for another referendum on the Sound View project after the bottom line increased by $7.6 million. But state and federal funding announced last year promised to reduce the price tag by about half, leaving Sound View residents responsible for less than the amount approved in 2019.
“Eventually, I think what’s going to end up happening, if I had a crystal ball, would be the project might go forth without [the town], which is what was planned like a decade ago,” Boulanger said.
Then the town, he said, “will just end up paying a lot more whenever they do get put into the system, which they will probably get forced to do one way or the other.”
Old Lyme WPCA Chairman Steve Cinami in a Tuesday phone call predicted that delaying the Sound View referendum will cost the town its 25% forgivable loan from the state. WPCA documents show the loan amounts to about $2.6 million.
He worried that taking the time to hire an accountant could needlessly jeopardize the funding.
“I’m surprised there’s an accountant out there that knows how to assume costs to run a pump station, but that’s what they seem to be doing,” he said.
He attributed the delay to resistance from what he described as a small group of people.
“There’s almost 200 residences in Soundview and only about, from what I can tell, 30 to 40 residences at most were represented at that informational meeting,” he said. “It leads me to believe that 160 people don’t care or don’t care enough to show up.”
He emphasized the demands from the state won’t go away if the project moves forward without the town.
The Case for Waiting
Mary Daley, a longstanding opponent of the Sound View project, who was appointed to the Old Lyme WPCA last year, applauded the delay during the public comment portion of Monday’s selectmen’s meeting.
“I totally support the idea of retaining an independent auditor to do a forensic audit of what has been spent, what is owed, and what will be owed if this project goes forward,” she said as one of the meeting’s remote participants.
She warned that the combined impact of annual sewer payments and increased taxes could push some older adults out of their long-term homes.
Selectman Jim Lampos, a Sound View resident, acknowledged a lack of verified numbers has been a sticking point among property owners from the beach community, who will be responsible for construction costs as well as annual fees.
“I think the suggestion of hiring a third party to take a look at it and to vet all the different estimates that are out there, and to render an opinion, could only help breed confidence,” Lampos said. “Having different estimates floating around doesn’t help.”
Selectwoman Jude Read called on her fellow selectmen to give a clear directive and timeframe to the consulting accountant.
“Because this can go on for a long time,” she said.
Lampos, who is currently working with the four beach communities to formalize a cost-sharing agreement, with another meeting set for Sept. 22, agreed.
“It has to be done quickly,” he said.
