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Resident Claus Nyberg asked for details on what the proposed sewer district will cost Lansing taxpayers, saying that communication from the Town to residents has been inadequate. He noted that the sewer project Web site is not updated and that there is no way for residents to know what the sewer will add to their annual bill.

Speaking after the public hearing on the Algerine and Lansing Station Roads water district, he said, "If you think the water district is expensive, the sewer is maybe the most expensive project ever in Lansing, but we have no concrete numbers." He lamented the lack of a Town newsletter, stopping just short of accusing the Town of keeping the information secret.

Town Supervisor Steve Farkas and Councilman Bud Shattuck explained that there are no numbers. They said that the costs can not be calculated until the route from Town to the Cayuga Heights treatment plant is determined. Once the route is chosen "the numbers can be plugged in," Mr. Shattuck said. He also noted that this publication has regularly covered the sewer issue.

That illustrates the dilemma of public bodies. Lansing's Sewer Committee is a working committee, but what they do is largely public. That includes deliberations, false starts, and even wild ideas. Actual bottom line numbers don't exist, but because the committee is publicly discussing the project residents may feel it is official and therefore "set in stone." Last month the committee determined a formula for how much private and business lots will be charged, but that is in the form of percentages of the total cost at this point, rather than dollars and cents.

Town officials hope to nail down the trunk line route and the exact scope during January, at which point they will be able to price the project. Last Monday the Village Trustees voted to tell the Town that Route 34 is their choice for bringing sewage through the Village to the treatment plant. Both Town and Village officials are meeting with the State Department of Transportation to try to get an exception to rules that would add a million dollars to the project if it is built on that route. If they can't get dispensation from the DOT the trunk line will likely be built along Cayuga Heights road instead.

Even then they won't have an "official" amount, because the committee is actively pursuing private contributions to the project and other factors may help reduce the impact to individuals.

Mr. Nyberg also expressed concerns that sewer and water would invite development, changing the nature of parts of the Town. Mr. Shattuck replied that it is good that population density is where water and sewer are, allowing the Town to control where growth occurs and possibly allowing for low income housing in some areas.

Communication to the public has been on the Sewer Committee's agenda at each meeting for several months at least. At their last meeting the issue came up again, when committee members asked attorneys when they would have the final concrete costs that they could relate to the public. David Allardice, of Allardice Financial Services, a consultant on the project, told them "It will be at least six months after choosing the route before we'll have the numbers to relate to the public."

Meanwhile, it's a "working committee" that gets closer each month to turning the project from an amorphous dream to an actual sewer system.

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