Article Last Updated: 10/13/2005 04:21 AM
ANDREW BROPHY abrophy@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post
FAIRFIELD — Charles Lawrence, who is moving to the Greenfield Hill section of town in November, thinks the Board of Finance defeated itself in trying to raise money for a $2.08 million fire suppression project in Greenfield Hill.
The board late Tuesday decided to charge property owners in Greenfield Hill more than $9,000 to hook into fire suppression lines proposed for their streets — $3,500 more than their neighbors were charged two years ago. The $9,123 charge is an access fee and doesn't include the cost of laying pipe from the lines to their homes.
Lawrence said fewer people will tie into the fire lines based on what the finance board did Tuesday night and the town will raise less money than it would have if the access fee for water was $6,000 as originally planned.
The finance board, after hours of debate Tuesday night, approved $2.08 million for the Fire Department's plan to install 24 fire hydrants and 3.5 miles of fire suppression lines in Greenfield Hill.
But the board also adopted a formula to have 50 percent of the project's cost reimbursed if all 114 residents whose properties border the fire suppression lines link into the system for water service.
The connection fee, based on the $2.08 million cost, works out to $9,123 per homeowner. Residents who hooked into fire suppression lines on Burr Street and North Street two years ago paid only $5,500.
"I think it's means-based government. We just sold the same, exact thing to people about a half-mile away and now, all of a sudden, the price is over 50 percent more," Board of Finance Chairman Kevin Kiley, who voted against the connection charge, said Wednesday.
The finance board did approve a 20 percent reduction in the $9,123 hook-up charge if a homeowner connects with the fire suppression lines, and pays the fee within a year. The discounted cost would work out to $7,298.
First Selectman Kenneth Flatto opposed the $9,123 fee. "I personally would have preferred it kept at $6,000 maximum," he said.
The finance board did drop its earlier requirement that the town be reimbursed 50 percent of the project's cost. The only way to ensure that reimbursement was through a mandatory fee to homeowners who potentially could benefit from the fire suppression lines, whether they connected to the system or not.
Now, residents who do not hook into the lines for water service will not be charged for the project.
The $2.08 million funding request now heads to the Representative Town Meeting at 8 p.m. Oct. 24 in Osborn Hill School. The RTM is the last town board required to vote on the proposal.