The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-08-04
SEWERAGE ORDINANCE
NEXT MONDAY NIGHT
To Be introduced for First Read
ing at the Regular Session
of City Council.
GIVEN A PUBLIC HEARING

authorizing the construction OF a sew
er system in Pleasantville will be III
troduced. The introduction of this or
dinance is one of the most important
steps undertaken by Council in years
for it means the beginning point of a
new and bigger Pleasantville.
The plans, which were approved by
the State Department of Health some
time ago, call for the construction OF
a comprehensive system of sanitary
sewers to drain all parts of the city
where now needed. The sewers will
be constructed of vitrified, terra Gotta
pipe which is the customary material
to use. They will lead to a common
point, to which the sewage from all
districts will flow by gravity.
In accordance with the requirements
of the Department of Health, the size
of the sewers will be large enough to
take cart of not only the present pop
ulation, but the population for a great
many years to come. This does not
mean that large and expensive sewer
must be built and money unnecessari
ly spent at this time. This city has
been so divided into different drain
age districts that there will be but
one main L in. sewer, while the rest
of the collecting sewers will be but
10 and 5 in. in diameter.
Manholes or wells, built of brick,
with iron covers, will be located on
all street intersections SO that the
sewers may be inspected at any time.
Lateral sewers which are special piec-
es of pipe with openings in the side
to which the house drains are con-
nected, will be placed in the street
sewers fronting every lot whether
built upon or not. This will make it
unnecessary TO break into and injure
a sewer when it is desired to make a
connection to it.
The disposal plant will be located
on the meadows not far from the city
limits. AS the sewage will all be con-
veyed across the meadows to Beach
Thorofare where there is plenty of
water for dilution, very little treat
ment will be required. This will con-
sist in simply passing the sewage
through revolving Green which will
remove all particles from it. The
sewer to Beach Thorofare will be the
largest item of expense necessary to
dispose of the sewage, but the cost of
this together with the small screen
ing station will only be about what
other cities of u size must pay for
their disposal plants alone.
The Engineers have estimated the
cost of the whole work at about $780,
600, which is only a small advance
over the estimated cost of two years
ago. The reason given for this is that
as most of the trenches in which the
pipes will be laid can be dug and
backfilled very rapidly by machines
the increase in the cost of labor will
not increase the cost of the work pro-
p~ortionately.
There are several ways of assessing
or paying for the cost of the improve
A method which is very fair
and which is the one that will proba-
bly, be used is to divide the cost of the
whole work into two sums, which we
will call sum A" and Sum b.. Sum
A" represents the actual cost of con-
structing all of the street sewers, that
is. those built in front of houses and
lots. "Sum B" represents the cost OF
building the collecting and outfall
sewers and the disposal plant.
A sewer in front of a property, n
Their built upon or not, is as much
of a benefit to that particular proper
ty as a pavement, a curb or a SIDE
walk. Therefore, one-half of the S
of the sewer for every foot in width
of the property, should be assessed
against it. This should apply to all
lots excepting those located at street
corners. A property located on a cor
ner is usually exempted from paying
for the first $50 feet of sewer on the
side of the lot. because 1t derives no
additional benefit from it.
When the work is completed, bills
covering the cost of the sewer are
sent to each property owner. These
bills are usually payable in five an
nual installments. AS all OF the mon
ey covering the cost of constructing
the sewers or Sum A, will have been
paid in at the end of five years, it will
not be necessary for the City to issue
bonds for this amount. Short term
notes may be issued instead and, as
these can be paid off as fast as the
money is received there will result a
great saving in interest charges which
would otherwise have to be met.
There still remains Sum B" or the
cost of the outfall sewers and disposal
plant. To cover this cost, long term
bonds can be issued with a life of
either 80 or 40 years. At least one of
these bonds must be paid off each year
and in addition there is the interest
charges on the remaining bonds. The
value Of the bond which must be paid
off together with the interest charges
and cost of operation make up the to-
tai annual expense. To obtain the
money to cover this annual expense a
certain sum is charged annually as
rental for each connection to the sew
err. This service charge usually de-
creases from year to year as new ON
nections are made to the system and
the bonds are paid off. Fol the first
five years a property owner will then
have two charges to meet; that is, the
payment on the sewers and the service
charge. From the sixth year on the
only expense will be the latter.
Following the above method the En-
oinoorS have calculated thai for the