New Financing is Boosting Wastewater Treatment
What has long loomed as an existential threat to the economy and vibrancy of Cape Cod—septic-system pollution and runoff that ruins our bays, rivers, and lakes—is a challenge Cape communities can meet and are meeting with affordable, sustainable new cleanup initiatives.
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hat’s the inspiring lesson Cape Codders can and should take from several pieces of great news this spring. Mashpee town meeting voters on May 3 unanimously approved $54 million for the first phase of a town wastewater treatment and sewer system that won’t require any local tax increases. Similarly, without requiring additional taxes, Orleans last year launched construction of its $38 million wastewater treatment plant, connecting to a $21 million new network of sewers in the heart of town. Those moves came after Falmouth successfully connected hundreds of homes in its Little Pond and Maravista neighborhoods to new municipal sewers, in projects that came in on time and under budget. Harwich’s sewer system, which connects to Chatham’s recently enhanced wastewater treatment plant, is also well underway. For years, progress on reversing the Cape’s waterquality crisis was halting, at best, and marked by more
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litigation than construction, more angst than action. What’s changed decisively in the last years is the availability of new funding streams that don’t rely on additional property taxes, along with many examples of nimble and taxpayer-friendly financial thinking by local officials. Key to getting the Mashpee and Orleans projects underway has been the 2019 launch of the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund (WPF). Coupled with the expansion of the hotel/motel tax to home rentals, the WPF is funded by a 2.75 percent excise tax on short term rentals and traditional hotel/B&B overnight stays. It ensures that visitors to the Cape who contribute to demand for clean water and the need for wastewater treatment pay, alongside Cape residents, their fair share of what it costs to achieve those important objectives. The WPF represents a truly elegant solution: The very thing that makes Cape Cod so attractive to continued on page 19
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