sewer

By Charles Sercombe – July 23, 2008

            Did your basement flood a few weeks when we had that insanely massive downpour?

            What did we get, something like several inches within an hour? Or so it seemed.

            No matter, city officials said there was nothing they could have done about the flooding. Hamtramck’s system is old and doesn’t separate rain water runoff from sewer waste, making for a not so lovely cocktail when it backs up in basements.

            Residents reported from two to four feet of that nasty stuff in their basements, ruining floors, walls and in some cases knocking out water heaters.

            So, what’s the city gonna do about it?

            Nothing.

            A big fat zero.

            It’s not that city officials are heartless or unsympathetic, it’s just that it’s an “act of god” and there is no system in the world that could have handled that amount of runoff.

            City Manager William Cooper said that for the past few years the city administration has put into motion a modest repair program, but the only real fix is to rip out the entire system and replace it with separate lines to handle sewage and rain water.

            Imagine the cost of that.

            As it turns out, Cooper already crunched some rough estimates and -- Ouch! – does it hurt. He predicted it would cost in the neighborhood of $40 to $60 million dollars to undertake such a huge repair.

            That would translate into asking voters to OK an extra 17 mills, or so, on their property taxes for something like 10 or 20 years.

            Like voters are going to go for that, right? Hamtramck is already in the top five for highest property tax rates in the state, a little over 60 mills.

            Is there an alternative?

            Cooper is looking into help from the state or feds but there is little money to pass around these days.

            He will also see if there is scaled down version of the project that would do the job and then maybe ask voters for a much smaller tax increase.        

            Or … you’re not going to like this.

            If a downtown Detroit law firm has its way, the repair costs could land up in a lawsuit.

            The law firm of Nacuga, Liddle & Dubin held a meeting Tuesday night to counsel residents on how to proceed with a class action lawsuit. A lawyer with the firm insisted that if the lawsuit is successful – if a court finds the city responsible and neglectful – there won’t be a court-ordered award forced on the tax rolls.

            No, instead, the attorney said, the city’s insurance company would cover the cost.

            City officials equally insist that just ain’t so, the city would be forced to turn to a court-forced special tax.          

            That would mean Hamtramck property owners would be stuck with the bill – for years to come.

            From where we sit, there are no good alternatives other than have someone else pay for it – like the federal government.

            Here’s our fantasy solution, with a tip of the hat to my hero, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

            With the economy being so bad and so many people being out of work, how about looking back to our country’s past and revive the 1930s-era Works Projects Administration?

            That way, we can put people back to work at a nominal salary and get some major public repair projects completed for a fraction of the cost.

            Yeah, we know, dream on.