Dan Hust | Democrat RESIDENTS FEAR THAT Broadway in Monticello, currently being paved, will have to be dug up again if the infrastructure project goes through.

Monticello on receiving end of $10M in aid

By Dan Hust
MONTICELLO — Glenn Gidaly is calling it “the largest grant they’ve ever offered in the Hudson Valley.”
“They” are the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Office in Middletown.
Gidaly is the Village of Monticello’s engineering consultant, from the Ellenville firm of Barton and Loguidice.
And Monticello is the potential recipient of $10 million worth of federal aid to help it repair its aging sewer plant.
Thanks to an effort first begun by just-rehired Village Manager Ray Nargizian, Gidaly submitted a pre-application to Rural Development in January, and they responded to it more favorably than he could have imagined.
Should Rural Development and village officials agree on the terms, Monticello stands to get a $4.3 million federal loan at a low interest rate of 2.625 percent for 38 years, plus a $5.6 million Rural Development grant to rehab the sewer system. The village’s upfront cost would be $15,000.
“It’s incredible the amount of money they’re offering,” Gidaly remarked, estimating the total tax increase on each single-family property in the village would be just $4.30 a month. “It’s as close to free as you can get.”
Gidaly, Nargizian, Mayor Gordon Jenkins, Trustee Carmen Rue and Village Attorney Jacob Billig traveled to Middletown on Wednesday to meet with Rural Development representatives, and Nargizian said afterwards that the meeting went well.
The next step, said Gidaly, is to submit a full application. If accepted by Rural Development, the village could begin reconstructing the sewer plant and many of its pipes, pump stations and other infrastructure next year.
That includes, according to Gidaly, replacing two miles of water mains, 100 inoperable valves, a pump station, five emergency generators at other pump stations, and nearly 200 fire hydrants; cleaning six miles of transmission lines; and upgrading the sewer plant, which suffers from an uninsulated office and high stormwater infiltration rates (leading to partially untreated water being dumped into the environment).
There’s also a plan to treat the sludge byproduct on site rather than shipping it to the county landfill.
This $10 million – plus other funding being sought from the state – should cover the entire cost, said Gidaly.
The only thing it won’t cover is fully repaving the roads that must be dug up to replace lines. They’ll be patched with asphalt, he indicated.
Monticello podiatrist Marc Hudes took issue with that, pushing Gidaly and the board to find money that will cover full repaving costs – and to also ensure the Broadway repaving project doesn’t have to be ripped up as soon as paving is complete.
That turned out to be the only comment of concern, and trustees thanked Gidaly for his efforts, followed by a rare round of applause from the audience.