RHINEBECK, N.Y. >> Town Board members have set in motion the procedure necessary to have Vanderburgh Cove Sewer District management taken over by the Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority.
The process was initiated during a meeting Monday. Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia said a request will be made for a Dutchess County Legislature resolution to agree to the change.
“The main advantage is you would have professional oversight,” she said. “We have a part-time Town Board here. We don’t have an engineer on stage. We don’t have any continuity. We have one maintenance person. We don’t have dedicated administration. We feel that we are not equipped and we’ve seen what happens … with all the DEC Department of Environmental Conservation) reporting.”
The district, which has 30 users in Rhinebeck and 10 in Hyde Park, was established in September 1967 under the management of private sewage works corporation Fisherman’s Road Incorporated.
Spinzia said there will also need to be a resolution adopted by the Hyde Park Town Board asking that the district management be taken over by the authority. County lawmakers would then vote on the takeover, with authorization subject to a 45-day waiting period for residents to submit a petition asking to have a permissive referendum.
“We’re looking at, hopefully, March,” she said.
Authority Executive Director Bridget Barclay earlier this month said estimated annual costs for property owners in the 40-unit system would be $2,390, for a 32.78 percent increase of $590 from $1,800.
Vanderburgh Cover district equipment has repeatedly failed or proven to be substandard since the system was established 48 years ago. Spinzia said the inability of town officials to resolve problems, which has led state Department of Environmental Conservation notices of violations, has led to the request for the county takeover.
“We don’t want the district to be fined,” she said. “We want it to be maintained well. We want infrastructure to be taken care of and the infrastructure monies to be saved for capital improvements. … We’ve seen that every time we have a big problem, we have to hire an engineering firm and take a step back before we can take a step forward.”
Town officials in 1989 were notified that Fisherman’s Road would abandon the system, and the district was formed in 1991, when an engineering report stated it would cost $57,613 to repair the system. By 2002, however, the problems worsened and officials were given a $1.76 million estimate for corrective action. Then, three years later, the figure rose again to $4.2 million.
