Morristown Thanks Aubertine for $3.335 million in Grants

Grants save taxpayers, offset cost of sewer and garage upgrades, fund summer reading program

MORRISTOWN (September 18, 2010)—State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine met with officials and residents from the town and village of Morristown in the village’s historic library today to announce four grants totaling $3.335 million in state funding secured by the Senator for the town and village sewer project, an energy efficiency project at the town highway garage, and the town library’s summer reading program.

“The village and town each demonstrated a critical need in the sewer project and opportunities to both save money and improve educational opportunities,” Sen. Aubertine said. “In securing this funding, I am proud to be a part of all the great work being done by many committed public servants in Morristown to enhance the lives of the people living here and help the community address these needs by lifting the burden placed on local property taxpayers and ratepayers.”

The Senator secured Senate capital funding totaling $3.3 million for town and village sewer projects.  The first grant of $1.467 million for the village will increase its capacity at the sewer treatment facility and a second grant of $1.833 million will enable the town to extend the sewer project along the River Road in Morristown. The Senator also lent his support to grant applications with the state Environmental Facilities Corporation for zero interest loans.

“It’s unbelievable and almost too good to be true,” said Morristown Town Clerk David Murray. “The town is extremely pleased that the Senator has been able to secure this funding to ensure water quality along the river. It will open up more residential development opportunities in the town, where because of the geology of the area, it was expensive to put in a septic system. Now, these houses will be able to hook in. We can’t thank the Senator enough for doing this.”

“We appreciate the efforts of the Senator to bring this to fruition,” said Town Supervisor Frank Putman. “This has been in the works for a number of years, but we were looking for a way to accomplish this and be cost effective to save the users and the town money. The Senator came through.”

The Senator has also secured a pair of legislative grants for the town highway barn in the amount of $30,000 to make energy efficiency upgrades that will reduce energy use and save taxpayer money, and a $5,000 grant to the Morristown Public Library for its summer reading program.

“We are excited about these grants because anything that helps the village helps the people and that’s what we’re trying to do. For the sewer it’s an upgrade for the village to have a much safer system and with the upgrade on the sewer building allows for sewer to be put in along the River Road,” said Cheryl Shatraw, Morristown Village Mayor. “In regard to the library grant, I’m a teacher so I know how important books are so anytime we can do something to help any person in the village get more exposure to books and knowledge, it’s something we should do, especially now. We’re very happy that the Senator was able to help out with these grants and we look forward to working with him again in the future.”

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