Question 2 of the Aug. 11, 2009 wastewater referendum said, “Shall the Town of Old Saybrook appropriate $42,171,200 for the design and construction of decentralized wastewater management systems within the Decentralized Wastewater Management District and issue the town’s bonds, notes, or other obligations in an amount not to exceed $42,171,200 to finance said appropriation, and provide ongoing funding of administrative costs for the systems?”

The votes were 1,691 “Yes” and 1,062 “No.”

Old Saybrook’s Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), in collusion with the Board Of Selectman on a resolution, decided to finance the Wastewater Management District (WWMD) upgrade program on the pocketbooks of individual property owners by using their statutory authority, What then was the purpose of Question 2? Was it just a trail blinder to facilitate passage of Question 1 of the referendum establishing the WWMD?

Recall that the town wrote the referendum questions according to the advice of Shipman & Goodwin LLP, the town’s bond counsel. According to Town Counsel Mike Cronin, the town had to agree to pay or the town couldn’t borrow the money.

Now, according to the WPCA and Board of Selectmen’s resolution, only those who took Clean Water Funds are repaying the town’s borrowing.

Where does the oft-reported “town half” of the upgrade cost come from? Taxes haven’t been raised because the town isn’t paying anything at all.

Nobody voted for this.

Joel Anderson

Old Saybrook