On Monday, December 16, 2019, FHMNA co-President Dave Buzanoski attended the Board of Selectmen’s meeting regarding the grinder pump update to give us the following information:
Amy Lowell (Waste Water Superintendent) provided the update which was a review of the May 2016 reimbursement policy (see FHMNA article). The Town Grinder Pump Policy includes the wording to “provide modest compensation (subsidy) for one-time, partial reimbursement of grinder pump installation cost, to be triggered by completed Town inspection of both grinder pump installation and septic system abandonment” with the amount to be determined after completion and applied to single family residential properties only.
Now that the LPSSA project is completed, Amy reported that:
– of 1350 residences in the LPSSA, only 7 remain unhooked up at present.
– of the 1350 residences, 680 required grinder pump installation.
– a study was conducted based on data collected from some individual homeowners and the 3 largest contractors who each installed more than 100 hookups to determine the connection cost differential between gravity and grinder pump installation. Of 455 connection contracts studied, approximately 50% gravity and 50% grinder pump, the average cost differential was $1800 higher per grinder pump installation. This was mostly due to additional excavation and electrical hookup expenses.
– if all 680 grinder pump installations were to be reimbursed on the basis of the average cost differential, the total cost would be $1,224,000. Sufficient funds remain in the LPSSA appropriation account to cover this cost as well as the pending Bournes Pond inlet widening project.
-the process, requirements and schedule for reimbursement are to be determined and will be presented at a future Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
-the initial intent of the 2016 policy was not to make every individual “whole”, but to provide an average reimbursement to every owner who was required to install a grinder pump.
For information on tax credits, see our 2017 web post: LPSSA Septic Abandonment Sewer Hookup Tax Credit.
FHMNA will continue to report any news concerning grinder pumps to our members.