Town Council will meet in a Special session to review whether to use taxpayer funds to pay for engineering plans to extend wastewater service to a set of privately owned Residential-3 (R-3) lots planned for the eastern edge of town.
The meeting is March 5, 2020 at the Cape Charles Civic Center 6:30 PM
General Builders, LLC is the developer/owner of the project.
Council discussed alternate methods of funding this initiative at the September 5, 2019 special meeting. At the September 19, 2019 regular meeting, Council directed staff to secure an engineering report and cost estimate on the extension of wastewater service to the R– 3 property as a base design with two alternate designs, the first also extending service to the contiguous Town-owned property and the second extending to the Town boundary along Old Cape Charles Road.
As the proposed wastewater service extension is a segment of the larger project pursued by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Public Service Authority (ESVPSA), Council authorized the Town Manager to request that ESVPSA assign the Hurt & Proffitt (H&P) engineering contract to the Town so that design of that segment could be completed.
The town has received a proposed contract change order to complete the design, prepare construction plans, specifications and bidding documents, and an estimate of probable cost for the wastewater force main.
The price is $30.5K. Bidding services would be another $7.5K. This proposal does not include construction administration and engineering. A proposal for water service extension has not been submitted at this time.
At issue is that this project is not included in the FY 2020 budget.
If Council bows to pressure and decides to proceed, funding will have to be arranged:
1. Utilize some of the remaining General Fund assets identified at mid-year review.
2. Absorb within the Water and Wastewater Fund, potentially deferring other projects such as Upgrade of Washington Avenue Pump Station, Phase 1.
3. Utilize the reserve fund for water and wastewater capacity expansion.
4. Any of the above could be considered a temporary measure and backfilled via the new bond issuance under consideration.
About the Author
First, they want new signs, which are not needed at this time. Now they want to spend taxpayer money for a project which is not in the budget. Look out hard working individuals working just to make ends meet and feed your families. Those taxes and water bills are going to rise higher than the morning sun.