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Mar
31
2006
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 31 March 2006 |
Lansing's School District Starts From Scratch
to Build a New Capital Improvement Project
If all had gone well, voters would be approving the Lansing School District's Capital Project Phase II this Tuesday. The original referendum would have been April 4th, but the Board of Education chose not to bring the proposal before the public because the chances of the $32-plus million dollar project passing were bleak. The missing ingredient in the last go-around was the taxpayers, so the District is starting there as they go back to the drawing board.
Last Wednesday (03/29) the first meeting of a dual-committee, citizen-based group gathered at the High School Library to learn about the process that will be used to revive the project with the goal of bringing it before the taxpayers in December of this year. Facilities and Community Awareness committees will meet and interact between now and mid-summer to bring a new proposal before the Board of Education (BOE) by July.
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Mar
24
2006
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 24 March 2006 |
Village of Lansing officials took another swipe at the budget in their Monday meeting in an effort to finalize it before a public hearing on April 3. With $351,425,899 taxable assessed value the Village hopes to lower the tax rate this year, even though the tax levy will go up.
Village taxes have historically approximated the rise in the cost of living. This year will be no exception with about a 3% rise. But Mayor Don Hartill told Trustees last Monday that he intends to lower the tax rate. Last year's tax rate was $1.65 pet $1,000 of assessed value. That rate could be diminished by as much as ten cents if all the figures work out. Hartill says that a tax rate of $1.58 would achieve the 3% cost of living rise.
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Mar
24
2006
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by Tony Nekut
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Friday, 24 March 2006 |
A few weeks ago (3/03), I wrote a letter here expressing concern and raising questions regarding the ongoing planning for a sewer system to serve parts of the Town. Today (3/22), I attended a meeting of the Sewer Committee at the Town Hall. In addition to the committee members, a representative from the Syracuse DEC office, Steve Eidt, was present. He was invited to clarify DEC policy regarding project funding under the 1996 Bond Act. He made it clear that it was essential for the project to move forward quickly (work contracts signed) or State funding would be jeopardized.
Unfortunately, none of the committee members asked the essential question: why is the DEC insisting on a "regional solution" which is fundamentally flawed? Not only is the current plan far more expensive than a plan which utilizes a Town owned wastewater plant near Portland Point, it also leaves many downhill lakefront areas unserved.
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Mar
24
2006
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 24 March 2006 |
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Regional Water Engineer Steve Eidt told Lansing Town and Village officials Wednesday that the DEC strongly supports their regional approach to sewer treatment. Eidt was invited to Wednesday's Town Sewer Committee meeting to clarify the DEC's stand on Lansing sewer issues and Cayuga Lake conservation. "We're 100% behind the project," he told the committee. "We fought very hard to get the funding you received from the bond act. We still strongly support the proposal for a regionalized approach."
 Engineer Jim blum (left) and DEC Regional Water Engineer Steve Eidt (right)
As the Town of Lansing moves closer to building its sewer, residents and local officials have raised questions about the particular way it is being planned. Questions have been raised about the wisdom of pumping effluent through the Village to the Southern part of Cayuga Lake where the Cayuga Heights Treatment Plant is located. Residents are concerned, because the current runs from south to north along the eastern shore that includes 14 miles of Lansing lakefront. Some residents have called for another look at a stand-alone treatment plant in the Town, located as far north as possible.
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Mar
24
2006
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by John Dennis
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Friday, 24 March 2006 |
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The plan to build a sewer system in the Town that would pump waste water to the Cayuga Heights Treatment Plant was $4-$6 million more expensive in 1998 than building a stand-alone wastewater treament plant in the Town. The cost difference are almost certainly greater today. The Cayuga Heights Plant was built in about 1952 and has had several upgrades since then. Lansing voters should seek a referundum so that the voters can decide whether the current plan to build a costly sewer connector system connected to an old system is acceptable. Advantages to building a stand-alone plant in the Town: 1) savings of roughly $6 million in construction costs, 2) lower annual energy costs as the stand alone system will require fewer pumping stations; 3) newer technology with no future need to pay to upgrade old equipment at the Cayuga Heights Treatment Plant, and 4) release of treated effluent into a deeper portion of the lake that is a) downstream of the Bolton Point drinking water intake, i.e., safer for all of us who drink Bolton Point water and much healthier for the lake ecosystem than releasing more treated effluent into the shallower and polluted water at the south end of Cayuga Lake. While the existing Bond funding from DEC is tempting, it should not be the tail that wags the dog.
Best regards,
John Dennis
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