St. Albans City Council warns up to $4 million bond for Houghton Park CSO storage

St. Albans City Council on Tuesday approved a revised town-meeting warning asking voters to authorize up to $4,000,000 in general obligation bonds to build an underground storage chamber in Houghton Park intended to reduce combined-sewer overflows on Lower Welding Street.

City staff and councilors said the full project is expected to cost about $6,810,900 before anticipated reductions from grants and forgiven debt, and that the bonds would be repaid from the wastewater enterprise fund rather than the property tax. “Said bonds to be paid by the wastewater system,” the revised warning reads as adopted.

The vote to approve the warning followed staff comments about the design and schedule for the storage chamber. Chip, a staff member presenting engineering details, said the chosen 500,000-gallon storage design fits the available site and minimizes disruption to existing park uses. “If we made it any bigger and it started creeping toward the north, we’d have to move the whole Steelers field,” Chip said, adding that expanding the storage later would be possible but would require additional excavation and components and would not produce large economies of scale.

Councilors discussed funding and messaging to voters. Staff explained the planned funding mix: $2,800,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, about $1,000,000 expected from the State Revolving Fund (SRF)/DEC program as a loan or grant, and the remainder to be covered by bond proceeds and wastewater-fund borrowing. Staff said the city expects to go into real debt for roughly $3,000,000 after grants and subsidies.

Councilors also raised schedule and outreach concerns. Staff warned that delaying the bid schedule could increase construction bids and reduce the city’s time to spend ARPA funds before the program deadline. A councilor asked whether the project would affect the school tax; staff responded payments would come from the wastewater enterprise fund. Councilors agreed staff should make the ballot warning clearer about ARPA and other grant assumptions and prepare voter-facing materials for town meeting day.

Following the warning approval, the council adopted a necessity resolution and a declaration of official intent required for the bond process. Both were approved by voice vote. The council then authorized the printed warning as amended and arranged for signatures and distribution ahead of the town meeting.

Votes at a glance: the council approved the revised town-meeting warning (motion carried by voice vote), adopted the necessity resolution (adopted by voice vote), and adopted the declaration of official intent (adopted by voice vote).

The council also discussed that the 500,000-gallon storage is the initial step required to comply with a state order to address CSOs and that additional storage alternatives are being evaluated if future needs arise. Staff noted potential exposure to state or federal enforcement if the city does not progress on the CSO remedies.

The council planned to finalize printed materials and signatures before the warning is posted and asked staff to return with any tightened language requested by bond counsel or to reflect confirmed grant amounts.