Article 3 on the 2024 Town Meeting Warrant asks Rockport taxpayers to commit nearly $52 million to a new wastewater treatment facility and sewer extension.

The reasons to oppose Article 3 are obvious:

1) $52 million is an unrealistic amount for a town of less than 3400 residents to spend on a public works project; and,

2) financial projections supporting the project are based on unrealistic assumptions that bias against continuing to collaborate with Camden.

Proponents suggest:

Camden charges too much or doesn’t want to continue collaborating;

Rockport needs its own wastewater facility to support residential and commercial development; and,

the long terms costs to sewer users will be less than continuing to work with Camden. These arguments are incorrect and easily rebutted.

Rockport and Camden have collaborated on wastewater management for 30 years. Camden charges Rockport the same per gallon as Camden residents are charged.

The collaboration ended when the Rockport Select Board made an ill-informed decision to stop paying Camden. Camden sued, the suit is unresolved and Rockport sewer users have paid substantial legal and consulting fees. Nevertheless, the Camden town manager and several current and prospective Select Board members have indicated a desire to continue working with Rockport.

A new wastewater facility and sewer extension will not create more affordable housing, nor will they create residential and commercial development in general.

There is currently no funding in place for this development, the intentions of most landowners along the proposed sewer extension are unknown, and there is no reason to believe that any development would favor affordable housing. Very little development happened following the sewer extension to the Camden Hills Regional High School, more than 20 years ago.

It is also wrong to suggest that residential development, particularly affordable housing, will reduce individuals’ property taxes by “growing the tax base”. Decades of scholarly research have consistently found that residential development leads to increased property taxes, principally because costs associated with schools, roads, and other municipal services exceed increases in the tax base.

Finally, the town’s “financial model” does not predict that a new facility will reduce costs to sewer users, only that costs will increase less than continuing to collaborate with Camden. However, the model was based on unrealistic assumptions, such as that Camden will raise its rate to Rockport users by 40% in 2025 and 15% annually after that.

The average increase in Camden’s per-gallon rate has been less than 8% annually since 2015. The model also assumes that Camden will require two $12.5M bonds to improve their treatment facility and collection system and ask Rockport to share the cost of both.

Only one $12.5 million bond is currently on the ballot, Rockport has historically been asked to pay only its share of capital improvements related to Rockport wastewater, and most costs facing Camden are unrelated to Rockport.

Additional unreasonable model assumptions include: exponential year-over-year growth in sewage volume from existing users that is inconsistent with recent history, unrealistically high estimates of new sewer users along Route 90, a substantial reduction in the cost of managing Rockport’s collection system, and unrealistically low operational costs for a new treatment facility. With more realistic assumptions, the same model predicts that an average sewer user will pay $5,520 more with a new facility and Route 90 extension compared to continuing to collaborate with Camden.

It is too soon to authorize the Select Board to spend $52 million. Please vote no on Article 3.

Scott Gazelle lives in Rockport.