Edelson's $2,100,000 Blunder!

The same friend, who urged me to write about Edelson issuing a $232,000 no-bid contract for design work on the Pomperaug Bridge, also asked if I would write about how Edelson’s horrid mishandling of this project will waste about a million dollars of town money.  I was skeptical, figured he was overstating the amount involved but I decided to take a look anyway.

When I completed the investigation, with a little help from my other friends, I realized that my first friend was way off the mark, but in the opposite direction, and that our little Town of Southbury will actually waste over two million dollars if this work proceeds as Edelson has planned. 

Folks, I’m not making this up.  We’re talking real money here.  I urge you to read the explanation below and to check my facts if you don’t believe me.  You can find all of these figures online without much difficulty.

·         The Pomperaug River Bridge is in need of repair at some point.  It’s not going to fall down tomorrow, but will need rehabilitation at some point down the road, no pun intended.

·         The state DOT gives it a Sufficiency Rating of 81%.  This is a very important number, as you will see. The rating can be seen on the CT.gov/dot /cwp website.

·         A bridge with a Sufficiency Rating below 80% is eligible for a rehab grant from the Federal Government.  You can check this yourself at the Federal Highway Administration Department’s website at www.fhwa.dot.gov.

·         The Federal grant will cover the cost of 80% of the repair.  This fact can also be checked at the FHWA website listed above, in case you were wondering where your federal tax dollars are going.

·         If we do the work now like Edelson is planning, we still get a rehab grant from the State of Connecticut, but the CT grant only covers 30.88% of the cost.  I’m not that good with math, but I do know that 30.88% is less than 80%.  Please correct me if I’m wrong.  By the way, you can also check on my 30.88% figure at the CT.gov/dot/cwp website that was mentioned above.

·         The cost to rehab the Pomperaug River Bridge is a staggering $4,253,500.  This cost is shown at the same CT.gov website I mention above, and is also documented by Edelson in a memo to the Board of Selectman dated August 24, 2012.

·         So, if we do the work now, the town qualifies for the 30.88% state grant, which will be $1,313,582. That is what Edelson has in the works.

·         However, if we wait until the bridge’s Sufficiency Rating falls below 80%, we then qualify for the federal grant at 80%, and the town would receive $3,402,800!

·         The savings to the town between rehabbing the bridge under a federal grant vs a state grant is an incredible $2,089,218!  That could be money in the town’s pocket – but only if the work is done after the bridge falls below a Sufficiency Rating of 80%.

·         The next CT DOT review of this bridge is scheduled for mid-2014.  One could reasonably assume that if the bridge is currently at a Sufficiency Rating of 81%, that it might well fall under the 80% trigger point for federal funds eligibility by the middle of next year. 

·         Edelson has already commited to fixing the bridge now, using the 30.88% the state grant.   The rehab project is listed on the CT.gov/dot/cwp website, in a spreadsheet of current projects as Project No. 9130-4465.  You can also see the total cost and the state grant amount on that

I can’t imagine why Edelson made a rushed decision to go ahead with this project.  It makes sense to wait a year, go for the federal grant at 80%, and save the town $2.1 million!

Let’s give credit to John Monteleone on this, as he really explained the issue well at the last debate.  I didn’t realize until I crunched the numbers how big a deal this is for Southbury.  Knowing these facts, what would you do?

I contend that this blunder is inexcusable, and that Mr. Edelson must be replaced with a fiscally responsible team under Mr. John Monteleone.