Norfolk may receive reduced fees by way of rebate

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA),  a quasi-public agency established to modernize the state’s solid waste disposal, was caught in the Enron debacle in 2000, when it made a $220-million loan to that company. The Authority received $111.8 million from the remaining assets of the defunct Texas giant in 2005. Last month, CRRA announced that it had been awarded $21 million from Hawkins, Delafield & Woods, a firm specializing in public financing, for misadvising the Authority on the Enron loan.

The Authority is still embroiled in a lawsuit brought against it by 70 municipalities in its Mid-Connecticut Project. The towns hope to get some compensation for increased fees that resulted from the Enron loan. CRRA chairman, Michael A. Pace, said that of this sum, $7.9 million is to be repaid to 25 towns, including Norfolk, that were party to the class action suit.

First Selectman Sue Dyer does not yet know how much of a rebate Norfolk is likely to receive. “We are not a CRRA member,” says Dyer, “but we have a contract with them.” Dyer added that any returned monies would be in the form of reduced tipping fees, rather than hard cash.