City joins others asking for help with funding water-related projects

LACONIA — The City Council this week joined with a number of other municipalities across the state in urging Governor Maggie Hassan to restore funding for the State Aid Grant (SAG) program, which assists cities and towns in financing wastewater and drinking water projects as well as landfill closures.

Administered by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the program defrays between 20-percent and 30-percent of the principal and interest payments on borrowings to finance these projects.

In October 2008, the Legislature suspended appropriations for the program, which has gone without funding for the past four fiscal years. Some 124 eligible projects, including 100 wastewater projects worth $46-million, 17 drinking water projects worth $7.5-million and seven landfill closures worth $800,000.

As a member of the Winnipesaukee River Basin Program, Laconia bears 40-percent of the cost of its capital projects and has received no assistance in servicing the debt on its $1,080,000 share of a $2.7-million wastewater project.

The council unanimously resolved to urge its representatives and state senator to restore the funding and, in a separate letter to the governor, asked her to include the necessary appropriation in the budget she will present to the Legislature next month. Myers said that the appropriation would be more secure as part of the governor's budget than if it had to be added to the budget in the course of the process.