Sewer line to Newfound Lake approved

BRISTOL — Voters at Bristol’s five-and-a-half-hour Town Meeting on Saturday approved an extension of the municipal sewer line to Newfound Lake, a project first proposed in 1971. The $20 million project required a two-thirds majority — or 110 votes — for passage, and just made it with 110 votes in the affirmative and 54 opposed.

It was concern about the water quality at Newfound Lake that drove the project.

While there is little evidence that failing septic systems are responsible for the recent degradation of water quality in what has historically been considered one of the cleanest lakes in the East, higher water levels, surface runoff, and the use of fertilizer on lawns are likely contributors to the problem, proponents said. There was general agreement that it is in the town’s best interest to do everything it can to protect the lake, which is a major economic driver for the Newfound Region.

Cost has been a major factor in delaying the project, as well as concerns about unbridled development if municipal sewer were available. A similar proposal in 2009 did not go forward when the town was unable to secure a grant to cover part of the cost.

Selectmen said this year’s article gives them authority to pursue as much as $10 million in grants — mainly a United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant — and that they would not pursue the project if they are unable to secure the funding.

Town Administrator Nik Coates said he has initiated a conversation with Gov. Chris Sununu to obtain help from the state of New Hampshire as well. Officials have indicated that the state may want to tie into the project to serve nearby Wellington State Park in Alexandria, which would help to cover the cost of the work. Wellington lies just beyond the town’s main water supply.

Selectmen Chairman Rick Alpers said concerns about new development have already been addressed when the town brought municipal water lines to the lake. The zoning ordinance already restricts development and prohibits large hotels and motels.

Much of the discussion on that and other articles broadened to include surrounding towns. Many residents said Bristol is the bearing the burden for protecting the environment — as well as providing police and ambulance service — that benefits towns not spending their fair share. In the case of the sewer project, some questioned what good it would do when other towns around the lake are not served by municipal sewers and might having failing septic systems.

Cost to lake residents was also raised, since the current proposal would force them to pay a yearly betterment fee for the life of the loan, as well as regular user fees, and they would be responsible for the cost of connecting to the sewer system, which for one-third of them might also require the purchase pumps and electrical panels. The project also would likely increase their property values which would boost property taxes — and taxpayers would assume part of the cost of the project.

One estimate put the impact for lake residents in the realm of $4,000-$7,000.

Replacing a septic system can cost upwards of $20,000, and the suggested betterment fee was based on a 20-year replacement for such systems. There is a potential of crafting interest-free loans to property owners to make the investment affordable.

Parliamentary maneuvers

Through parliamentary maneuvering, the town prevented any discussion of a petitioned article that would have required selectmen to spend money allocated for road work on that road work. Typically, selectmen have transferred money from the highway budget to cover other town expenses, and last year used highway funds for priorities they had proposed but which could not be covered in the approved budget.

To avoid “tying the selectmen’s hands” this year, voters tabled the petitioned article until dealing with the operating budget, which also included the money for road work. Then, after setting the operating budget, Alpers moved to restrict reconsideration of the article. The effect was to prevent voters from approving the petitioned article and then going back to remove the duplicate funding from the budget article — unless they wanted to do so at a special meeting in the future.

The maneuver worked: When faced with doubling the appropriation or holding a second meeting to avoid doing so, voters chose not to take the petitioned article off the table.

Selectmen successfully amended the operating budget upwards from the $6,48. million proposed by the Budget Committee to $6.52 million, to cover an increase in solid waste hauling fees announced after the budget work had been completed.

An attempt to reduce the operating budget to $6.04 — a 1.9 percent increase from last year’s appropriation — failed.

John Sellers, who offered the amendment, said the 11.22 percent increase in spending in the proposed budget was excessive, but Selectman Don Milbrand pointed out that Sellers’ approach ignored revenues. The impact on taxation is $80,000, so if the town wanted to use  the 1.9 percent cost-of-living increase, “a reasonable cut would be $57,000,” Milbrand said — not the nearly $500,000 that Sellers was seeking.

Other articles

Voters agreed to hire another full-time firefighter; designated that the first $60,000 in ambulance income be put into an ambulance replacement revolving fund; purchase a power stretcher for the ambulance; enter into leases for Tasers and body cameras for the police department; and appropriate $12,000 for fireworks for the town’s Bicentennial celebration this year.