Immediate Release                                                         Contact: Justin Meyers
April 4, 2008                                                                            (516) 869-7794

Great Neck Residents to Pay $53 Million for Sewer Upgrades

Kaiman Rejects Plan—Calls for Merger in an Effort to Save Millions

(Great Neck, NY)—Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman has rejected the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District’s plan to upgrade its sewer plant, which holds a potential $50 million price tag, after receiving confirmation from the New York State EFC that the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District and the Village of Great Neck had filed loan requests totaling over $53 million for the purpose of upgrading their respective sewage treatment plants located on East Shore Road in Great Neck. Kaiman rejected the district’s plan and refused bonding for the plant unless costs were reduced.

“Building two plants across the street from one another does not make sense, we can save the Great Neck residents millions of dollars by building one plant instead of two,” said Supervisor Kaiman.

If the district was able to go forward with their original plan the Town would be required to authorize the $37 million district portion of that funding in order for the Water Pollution Control District to be eligible to bond the necessary funds.

Kaiman advised the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District earlier this year that he would not support such funding unless the district agreed to merge its facility with the village sewer facility if such can be arranged between the two entities. The district had in previous years rejected a merger of the two facilities, but has now advised the town that such a merger may be possible.

Kaiman added, “The district already waived $18 million in state grants and possibly tens of millions more in reduced capital costs by opting against diverting Great Neck’s effluent to the county facility.” He notes on the other hand, however, that the district claims that the savings would not be that great and operational costs would be greater if sewage were handled by the county.

According to the supervisor, there remain a number of issues involving the environment, operations, administration, debt service, and the law. “Nevertheless,” according to Kaiman, “the public needs to know that the district and the village may be spending over $50 million of taxpayer monies next year.”

Supervisor Kaiman has called for a public meeting to discuss these issues on May 14, at the Great Neck South High School Auditorium at 7:30pm. Both the district and the village have agreed to participate.