Orange County holds public hearing on $185 million plan to expand Harriman wastewater plant to 9 million gallons a day

Orange County legislators held a County Law §5-a public hearing on March 18, 2025, to receive comment on proposed improvements at the Harriman Wastewater Treatment Plant that would expand permitted treatment capacity from 6,000,000 gallons per day to 9,000,000 gallons per day and replace aging equipment.

The project, presented by Marybeth Bianconi, P.E., partner at Delaware Engineering, is currently estimated at "Our preliminary cost all in is a hundred and $85,000,000," she told the legislature. Bianconi said the work is intended to meet new New York State Department of Environmental Conservation permit requirements, extend the useful life of aging treatment trains, and accommodate forecasted flows from connected communities over the next 20 to 30 years.

County officials and the consultant said the upgrade package would replace the original treatment train on the site with a new 7,000,000 gallon-a-day sequencing batch reactor, upgrade the plant's newest train (Train 3), and make general site improvements. Bianconi said the project is in design, that a submittal to the Department of Environmental Conservation is planned for August 2026, and that construction is anticipated to take roughly 24 months (potentially discontinuous with winter shutdowns).

Why it matters: County staff said the plant cannot meet all conditions in its renewed State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit with the existing equipment, and the upgrades are intended to protect downstream water quality and extend service life. The project would be funded by a mix of borrowing and outside aid; presenters identified the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law program, the state Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, and the Water Quality Improvement Program (WQIP) as potential sources.

Financing and household impacts: Presenters described the $185 million figure as a conservative "top line" that includes contingencies and escalation. Under a worst-case assumption of bonding the full amount with no grants or interest relief, staff estimated annual debt service of about $13 million and said the capital portion of the charge could add roughly $500 per household per year in the sewer district; presenters said the county is targeting roughly $60 million in grant funding that could lower that capital charge to about $315 per household in a best-case scenario. Presenters characterized a likely mid-range combined charge for a household in the district as "somewhere between about $875 a year and a thousand dollars a year." Bianconi also told the meeting that current operation-and-maintenance expense is close to the present budget (about $14.5 million) and that current users pay roughly $550 per year for O&M.

Public questions and concerns: Six speakers signed up for the public comment period. Town of Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone expressed concern that Harriman residents "have been left out in some way" and asked that effects such as noise and traffic be considered. A town board member speaking as a private resident, Mary Bingham, asked whether downstream municipalities on the Ramapo River had been informed and questioned a discrepancy between earlier project figures ($156,000,000) and the current $185,000,000 estimate: "Since our effluent flows down the Ramapo River, was any mention made to the municipalities downstream of this hearing?" she asked.

Officials from the Village of Monroe (represented by Neil Dwyer and Trustee John Carl) said the village is nearly built out and warned the expansion's debt burden could unfairly fall on Monroe property owners; Carl urged that costs be apportioned to outside or satellite users and suggested ad valorem collection as a mechanism. Resident Carol Sotiropoulos asked whether the roughly $500 per-year figure refers to existing housing units or also to future hookups, saying, "Is that just the housing units that exist today or the housing units that are going to be incorporated after the sewage..." Blooming Grove resident Joyce Sloan asked how connection decisions would be made and whether out-of-district properties could connect.

Process and next steps: Presenters and committee chairs said the hearing is the County Law §5-a step to gather public comment. County staff and advisory committees will review comments in April; the legislature is expected to consider an action on the §5-a proceeding at its May meeting, which would allow the county to apply for time‑sensitive funding (officials emphasized May 30 application deadlines for several federal and state programs). No formal vote or ordinance was taken at the hearing itself.

What was not decided: The hearing record contains questions that staff said would be addressed in later committee meetings — including which outside users or intermunicipal agreements (IMAs) would bear portions of the capital cost, whether trunk line upgrades beyond the plant are required, verification of outside users' existing purchased capacity, and a detailed assignment of "units" (the county's unit method equates one unit to a single-family house for billing). Officials said only benefited users in the sewer district pay these charges and that properties not connected do not pay for the system.

The public hearing record will be forwarded to the Sewer Advisory Committee and Physical Services Committee for review ahead of the May legislative consideration; county staff said they will pursue grant and low-interest financing opportunities before finalizing the project financing plan.