Rehoboth Beach is sitting on a “money machine.” The commissioners are now talking about giving this asset away for nearly nothing. With consent by referendum for a total of $52 million from the citizens of Rehoboth Beach, the city has borrowed $42 million so far.
With the $42 million, we built an ocean outfall pipe that extends from the beach one mile out into the ocean. We completed some other projects but the wastewater outfall is the “money machine.”
Our contract engineers have projected $18-20 million in upgrades are now needed to bring the wastewater treatment plant to a point where we can process 3.5 million gallons of effluent per day.
However, the 3,500 customers in Rehoboth Beach only need a half million gallons of capacity. Why do we want an upgrade that will pump seven times that much?
The answer is easy. Sussex County needs that capacity, not Rehoboth Beach. The future of spray irrigation is not rosy. Spray irrigation has proven to be less than ideal. It is very dependent on the weather. It cannot be used on saturated ground after extensive rainfall. It cannot be used on frozen ground in the winter with low temperatures. Neighbors say it stinks. Also, anyone who looks into current research reports and guidelines will discover that areas where ground water levels are close to the surface, as in eastern Delaware, are worrisome to DNREC and U.S. EPA.
The effects of residual nitrates and chloride are being studied in the recharge chain. Expect more and more stipulations on wastewater pretreatment measures in the future. The engineers at Sussex County can read the handwriting on the wall. The Rehoboth Beach wastewater system offers capacity to bring 21,000 customers into the safe, efficient ocean outfall.
The present county-wide wastewater fee is $294/year, potentially bringing in $6.174 million, and that is twice what it will take to operate the Rehoboth wastewater plant. If the county decides to charge the average fee for the northeast coast area (AWWA, 2016), the potential income is $12.6 million/year coming through our ocean outfall.
The county tells us that they will only charge each Rehoboth Beach customer $294/year.
However, each city customer will also be forced to pay an additional $392/year legacy costs for 25 years. Although the county will assume our $42 million loan, we will be paying them $34.8 million legacy costs back over 25 years.
It is not a stretch to calculate that the county can reap well over $200 million profit by the time 25 years have passed. That is not a bad return for $18-20 million plus $7.2 million invested in our wastewater treatment system during the first few years.
The county tells us that their terms are “not negotiable.”
• The Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners should stop negotiations immediately.
• Rehoboth Beach should establish an elected Board of Public Utilities to oversee this and other public utility decisions facing our city.
• The new Board of Public Utilities should seek outside opinion to evaluate our wastewater treatment system. Seeking advice from the Sussex County engineer and GHD, our contract engineering firm, does not make sense. We want unbiased opinions.
• Operating costs and upgrade costs should be shared according to usage. If the county uses 85 percent of our capacity, they should be responsible for 85 percent of the costs of upgrades and operation expenses.
• If the county refuses to share the costs of wastewater capacity with Rehoboth Beach, we should consider the financial advantage of renovating our wastewater treatment plant at a capacity much lower than the original planned 3.5 million gallons/day.
• The mayor and city manager should immediately provide every citizen of Rehoboth Beach complete detailed information concerning this “deal” and citizens should be able to register their approval or disapproval after everyone has been able to decide if the “pain” is worth the “gain.”
There are other pros and cons, but money is the central issue.
Jay Lagree
Rehoboth Beach
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
