The City of Troy heard options for funding a massive lead pipe replacement project Thursday, but questions remain over the process.
First-term Republican Mayor Carmella Mantello has made replacing lead water lines citywide a priority of her first term. How to pay for it is still being worked out.
City officials say roughly 290 of the 1354 identified lines that contain lead contamination have been replace.
It comes as the city rushes to meet a state deadline to inventory all service lines by the middle of October.
Democratic state Assemblyman John McDonald and State Senator Jake Ashby, a Republican, went before city councilors at their regular meeting to provide clarification on the use of state and federal funding for the replacement of lead contaminated water service lines.
The legislators say state and federal funding can be used to replace the private side of service lines. McDonald, of the 108th district, says changes to the state finance law make this possible.
“It's very clear the legislature intended to give local governments the ability to use public funds to replace private lead services,” McDonald said.
McDonald emphasized that the city, at this point, does not need to bond for the replacements, a point of uncertainty for local leaders.
The city only recently climbed out of a historic debt that required state oversight.
“Where it gets tricky is when it's municipal funding,” McDonald said. “And right now, that's not the issue before the council. You are receiving a federal grant administered by the state of New York with those are public funds, not local funds, and that is what you are going to be voting on.”
The council ultimately approved several resolutions, including asking the state comptroller and attorney general to provide opinions over the use of bonds and seeking bills from the state legislature approving the issuance of bonds.
Troy recently received $12.8 million in reimbursable grants through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Ashby, of the 43rd district, says after meeting with the Environmental Facilities Corporation and officials from the state’s Division of the Budget, the city has statutory authority to move forward, continuing to replace lines in 2025.
“The EFC has pledged to me that they will expeditiously reimburse the city for replacement costs as they are incurred, using the aforementioned federal and state dollars,” Ashby said. “Your RFP can and should reflect this, the proposal for the state to declare a state of emergency cannot be accommodated outside of the legislative session. And quite simply, leadership is exceedingly unlikely to call back the entire legislature to codify authority the city already has. Simply put, the resources are there, the funding stream is there? The reimbursement process is in place, and I believe contractors should be secured to begin this critically important work without delay.”
Ashby says it’s a top priority to make changes to state legislation that would allow municipal funds to be used for the bonding of replacement of private lines.
“I think it's important to get clarity on that before it comes to it, because you don't want to get, you know, caught in a lurch on it, and we're going to aim to do that,” Ashby said. “But for right now, the language has been changed in DOH and local finance law, so we can move forward on this.”
The legislators say they are meeting with EFC officials this month to discuss bonding.
Mantello says whether the city moves forward with bonding or not, the resolution authorizing the issuance is required by the state. Mantello says the city is working on a tight schedule.
Democratic Council President Sue Steele says the council should have tabled the bond resolution until after the meeting with EFC.
“I think a lot of the questions would have been answered by then,” Steele said. “I really don't think it would have held up the timetable at all. I know for a fact that the application to EFC sat on the mayor's desk for months, waiting for her signature, and that's why we just now received the information from EFC. The process was slowed down at the beginning of the year, unfortunately, so I don't see the rush right now. I think we need to have the questions answered, and I think that meeting would have accomplished that.”
However, Mantello challenged statements made by the legislators, saying state and federal funding becomes municipal when bonded. Mantello says she would rather not bond, but is worried that reimbursements would not be timely.
“We heard very clearly from the senator and the assemblymember that municipal funds cannot be used for private purposes. So, seeing that, we're looking for clarity from this,” Mantello said.
Mantello says the city is working in clusters to maximize productivity in the lead replacement effort. Mantello says the city needs solid clarification from state offices before moving forward.
Corporation Counsel Dana Salazar backed Mantello.
“Even if we do have to go to bond, as you've heard, we would need to because it's reimbursable, we wouldn't, it's unlikely we would need to bond for the full $12.8 million but EFC requested and required the full amount. We did push back on that and asked if we could do a resolution for a lower amount, and they required that the city commit to the full amount in its bonding resolution, regardless of what we might ultimately bond,” Salazar said.