Nine million dollars of work clouds Norfolk’s future

By Kurt Steele

Like many aging towns across America, Norfolk struggles to keep its infrastructure operational and up-to-date. The town’s public roadways, sewer system, and fire and EMS buildings need regular maintenance as well as periodic rebuilding.

“There is nothing simple about repairing and improving our 43 miles of roadways,” says Sue Dyer, Norfolk’s first selectman. “Historically, it was common for them to be used well past their life cycle.” In fact, it was often more expedient to cheaply pave over an existing road rather than rebuild it.

“Today,” she adds, “we are in much better shape.” Public works manager John Allyn is credited with allocating the annual road budget of $436,000 wisely. But given the constraints, only about one-half of the town’s roadways are rated ‘good’ with the rest being graded only ‘fair’ or ‘poor.’

Acquiring the estimated $3 million needed to bring all of the roadways up to ‘good’ appears unlikely. Michael Sconyers, chair of the town’s Board of Finance, has a mixed message. “We at least are holding our own in keeping the roadways maintained and improved,” he says. “Unfortunately, I don’t think any significant help will be coming from federal or state resources, and our local budget really can’t be increased.” He also believes that long-term borrowing isn’t an appropriate way to pay for roadways that have a relatively short life span.

Another estimated $3 million price tag is attached to rehabilitating the sewer system that serves 377 customers in the town center. Built in the 1890’s, it is one of the oldest in the state. A report by WMC Engineers of Newington describes it as “rapidly failing and in need of improvement.”

According to Ronald Zanobi, chair of the Norfolk Sewer District Commission, the system does not comply with a number of state environmental laws. For several years they have been working on a remediation plan for approval by the state Department of Environmental Protection. As to the price tag, the commission has been investigating options for financing the project. One possible source would be a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for about 45% of the project’s cost, with the balance covered by a low-interest, long-term loan. However, given the current political environment, there is no guarantee that the grant and loan will be available when the time comes.

Although the Sewer Commission is an independent political unit whose commissioners are elected by district customers, USDA financing would have to be guaranteed by the town after approval by the town’s voters. Zanobi notes, “As part of our financing exploration, the Sewer Commission hopes it will have an opportunity to discuss with the town’s Board of Finance the possibility of the town carrying some part of the annual debt service.”

A third project, also costing about $3 million, is the new, long-needed firehouse, whose planning had progressed to conceptual drawings. As recently reported, the Board of Finance unexpectantly voted to delay its funding for at least two years while it works to bond the town’s unfunded pension liabilities.

Facing a potential total of $9 million of current infrastructure needs, Sconyers cautions that “It’s pretty clear the town has no financial ability to undertake new capital projects like a Rail Trail or Community Center that were talked about recently at the Norfolk Now 2023! forum and other places. Those projects and others like them will have to consider outside sources of funding.”