Community, County At Odds Over Who Should Pay For New L.I. Sewage Treatment Plant

CALVERTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A dispute over a discharge – who should pay to replace an outdated, potentially polluting sewage treatment plant.

As CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reported, the community of Calverton Hills has been pitted against Suffolk County.

"It's almost a dire situation at this point," said Michelle Janlewicz, homeowners' association secretary in Calverton Hills. "The community could shut down."

Janlewicz is worried that sewage could spell the end of Calverton Hills. She said a dedicated sewage treatment plant built in 1973 isn't up to snuff -- and now, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services wants the community, composed of modest townhomes valued at roughly $100,000 each, to foot the $7 million bill for a new one.

"It's a big price tag on this new system," Janlewicz said. "It's estimated between $6 (million) and $7 million, and there's no possible way to afford it.

Sewage treatment standards have changed since this plant was built more than 40 years ago. The plant was never designed to remove nitrogen, which is a known pollutant – and everything filtered there goes back into the ground and ultimately groundwater.

The $7 million shiny new sewage plant would remove nitrogen and then some, according to experts. The high price tag results from a high-tech take on tackling a stinky problem.

"We can't do anything anytime," said Daniel Hotchkin, president of the homeowners' association. "We can't get financing, we don't have the money, and the health department threatens to shut us down."

Hotchkin said they first got wind of the necessary new equipment back in 2007, when it would have cost a third of today's price tag. He said the community would have been willing to foot the bill a decade ago.

"Up till recently, we were still trying to get financing, so yeah," he said.

But new information means a new take on the situation. The association claims documents uncovered this summer prove Calverton Hills does not even own the treatment plant.

First was a tax map identifying the Suffolk County Sewage Agency as owner. Second was the sewer agreement signed by county and filed in the 1970s.

"We shouldn't have been paying these bills for all these years," Hotchkin said. "The county should have been doing it."

Now, there is a federal lawsuit against the County of Suffolk and several of its agencies, demanding the county claim ownership of the sewage treatment plant, repair it, and refund the association for all fees paid.

Suffolk County wouldn't agree to an on-camera interview, but sent a statement reading, "We have moved to dismiss this claim because we do not think it is... viable."