CITY COUNCIL Flood program is returned to back burner

The mayor urged passage at the polls of the 0.5 percent income tax.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Ten months after legislation to help reduce flooding in some parts of the city was introduced and nine months after it was tabled, council members have again postponed consideration of the measure.
The legislation would establish a program to install back-up prevention valves and sump pumps at homes and remove footer drains from the city sanitary sewer system.
The money to pay for the work was to come from proceeds of a sewer rate increase passed last year. The reimbursement from the city to residents would be based on income.
Real problem?
Councilman Robert Holmes III, D-4th, said he doesn't believe the program addresses the real problem of flooding in the city, which he said is downtown sewers. "This does not fix the problem."
He said that if it passed, he'd introduce legislation to eliminate the sewer rate increase that was passed last year.
Councilman Gary Fonce, D-at large, said he would support the legislation, but there are some issues that remain to be addressed, including what houses would be involved first.
"The problem is we don't have a plan for what really needs to be done," he said.
Councilwoman Virginia Bufano, D-1st, said many in her ward have been dealing with flooded basements for 40 years.
"This is at least a light at the end of the tunnel for them," she said of the legislation.
Bufano is doubtful a new sanitary sewer system in her area will ever materialize because of the high price.
After a 10-minute recess called during the discussion, council members voted to table the legislation.
Holmes and lawmakers Vincent S. Flask, D-5th; James A. "Doc" Pugh, D-6th; Robert L. Dean Jr. and Felipe Romain Jr., both D-at large; and Councilwoman Susan E. Hartman, D-7th, voted in favor of tabling.
Fonce, Bufano and John Homlitas, D-3rd, who sponsored the legislation, and Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, were opposed.
Special election
In other business, Mayor Michael J. O'Brien urged people to support the 0.5 percent income tax for the police and fire departments that is on Tuesday's special election ballot.
"The financial future of the city of Warren rests on Tuesday," the mayor said.
The tax, initially passed in 2001, expires at year's end and generates nearly $5 million annually for the safety forces.