Northport gets OK to borrow up to $9M for sewer system

The Village of Northport received approval last week to borrow up to $9 million for sewer system upgrades.

The village applied for the line of credit from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp., a public financing corporation, to upgrade its sewer system.

The municipality is under pressure by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to meet a 2014 deadline to reduce the amount of nitrogen emitted from the system into Northport Harbor.

After the Public Authorities Control Board votes for the plan, Northport will receive a contract to borrow $3.6 million interest-free, and $5.4 million at market rates from the corporation.

“This is certainly beneficial to the village, and we’re very glad the EFC worked with us on this,” Northport Village Deputy Mayor Henry Tobin said.

Tobin said the village will continue to seek grants to pay for some of the roughly $9-million cost of upgrading its sewer system. It already received $1.8 million in grants for the project from the state DEC, of which the village is required to put up 20 percent, Tobin said.

The village’s 2011-12 fiscal year budget is $12.6 million.