MOOSIC - For the 17th year in a row, the borough has adopted a budget without a property tax increase - despite unanimously passing an ordinance last week to apply for an $800,000 loan from Fidelity Bank to finance sewer projects.
The loan comes on the heels of a newly retired $2 million bond the borough took out in 1994, allowing the borough to sidestep a tax.
"We just replaced one loan with another," council President Joseph Mercatili said.
Just last week, the borough finished what was initially a routine sewer repair that ended up being a full-blown replacement along Birney Avenue and Rocky Glen Road.
"The pipes just disintegrated," Mr. Mercatili said, making the recently completed sewer project a necessity. "We didn't have time to put them out to bid. Considering the conditions and the damage done, we had to do it immediately."
The sewer lines along those roads were possibly more than 50 years old and in advanced stages of disrepair. Under emergency conditions, the borough paid about $150,000 out of the general fund to replace the lines, Borough Administrator Jane Sterling said.
"The one on Rocky Glen Road did not have a bottom," Ms. Sterling said. "It was running in a trench rather than a sewer line."
But more lines need work along all of Main Street, Spring Street and part of Spring Brook Avenue, and these lines could be as bad as the others, Ms. Sterling said. Borough officials should have a better idea by the December meeting.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter