Portland finalizes completion of Water District 2

PORTLAND — The Town of Portland issued a resolution at its latest board meeting to officially close out the Water District 2 project. In all, the total cost was slightly over $4.6 million.

The Town has now accepted the project as complete and authorized payment to the contractors of the project. S. St. George Enterprises handled the construction of the project, which was overseen by CPL: Architecture-Engineering-Planning, formerly referred to as Clark-Patterson-Lee. Moving forward, Mitch Magierski will oversee operation of the services with the Brocton-Portland Water System.

The project — pertaining to Van Buren Point and the Greencrest community near Patterson Lane — included the replacement of water lines that were originally installed in the 1970s, along with installing new water meters and meter pits. The district, located near the shoreline along Route 5, is among the larger water districts in the Town of Portland.

Water District No. 2 is comprised of 558 parcels of land assessed at a total of $24,697,433. Since its formation in 1970, the district is classified as an ad valorem district, which means value of property determines the charge, regardless of whether or not the parcels have water access.

The assessed value of each parcel determines the water district cost to the resident. Each parcel was charged $6.23 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The Town began taxing for Water District 2 in 2024 to raise $54,000. This year, the amount to be raised by taxes increased by 236.2% over the amount in 2024, amounting to $154,000, in order to cover payment of the loans required for the project. The Town took out an initial loan, then took a second loan later on once costs came in higher than anticipated.

“That is 100% all that is. There is nothing else added in there. That is the amount to secure the funding for the Water District No. 2 project,” Town Supervisor Rich Lewis said of the $154,000 raised by taxes.

The project was planned prior to the pandemic shutdown, but was paused and went out for bid at a later date. When the project went out to bid, the price more than doubled from its initial $1.8 million cost.

Highway Superintendent Ken Becker will be contacting S. St. George Enterprises to address blacktop and road shoulder issues in the coming weeks.

“We definitely have to have them come back and fix some things,” Becker said.