The city is set to borrow $20 million to pay for new federally-mandated sewer improvements — including a renovation of the George P. Riley Wastewater Treatment Plant and continuation of the four-year-old Combined Sewer Overflow project.
The new borrowing requests, which will need to be vetted and approved by City Council, come as the city is already in the middle of $8 million worth of work to improve the drinking water system and around $5 million worth of CSO work now grinding along Prospect Street.
The sewer treatment plant modernization will account for $13 million of the new borrowing, with the CSO work accounting for the remaining $7 million.
Opened in 1984 and described as both "hardworking" and "below optimal" by Public Works Director Michael Hale, the sewer plant has been cited by the state Department of Environmental Protection for overflows into the Annisquam River and shutdowns due to equipment failures.
Like the CSO project, work on the sewer plant, at a cost of around $7 million, is already underway and will transition directly into the larger phase of work represented by the $13 million request.
Unlike many modern municipal sewage systems, Gloucester's plant only provides primary treatment, and the waste that comes out of it is shipped out of town for secondary treatment. In the summer of 2008, a tanker truck leaving the plant spilled partially treated sewage up Route 133 into Essex and Ipswich.
A 2006 study of the sewer plant found that its "basic functions are in need of replacement or upgrade," DPW chief Hale wrote in the loan authorization request.
The upcoming work "will provide a safe work environment to staff and contract operators, while also protecting the facility and the surrounding natural environment," the loan authorization request continues.
The Gloucester sewer system also serves parts of Essex and Rockport.
The Combined Sewer Overflow project — a reworking of the city's subterranean plumbing to prevent sewage and rainwater from mixing — began in 2006 and has made its way from Pavilion Beach to Washington Street and now up through the city's center.
Work underway separating storm drains and sewers between Gould Court and Cleveland Street is scheduled to be finished in the fall.
Once that is done, the work funded by the $7 million in new borrowing — which focuses on the West End of downtown and inner harbor area from St. Peter's Park to Harbor Loop — is expected to begin.
After that, storm drain separation will progress to the streets east of Burnham Street across the Portuguese Hill neighborhood to the Head of the Harbor. Hale said Friday he estimates the entire project could be completed within the next three years.
The new borrowing request comes as city officials begin work on next year's budget.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk last week offered her first forecast for fiscal 2011, projecting a small increase in the neighborhood of $474,000 to the school budget on top of the $35.8 million appropriation for the current fiscal year.
Because of state aid cuts, the school budget for fiscal 2010 dropped by $300,000 over the initial appropriation.
Gov. Deval Patrick has said he does not expect local aid cuts this year, but Kirk, who has predicted one for months, built a 5 percent local aid cut into her early draft budget.
School Committee Chairman Val Gilman on Thursday called the $474,000 budget increase "conservative," and said he hoped it could be improved in the coming months.
"The number overall is a concern if you look at the amount of step and track increases, health care and energy,' Gilman said. "We are going to really look at the school improvement plans next week, what's on the table and whether we need to go back to the council and mayor."
Also on the agenda for tomorrow's City Council meeting is a presentation on plans for a new North Shore regional 911 call center in Middleton by the officials managing the project.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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