By: Cara Latham
ROOSEVELT The Borough Council’s Finance Committee has recommended the hiring of a structural engineer to examine the borough water tower to see if it can be repaired.
A recent inspection of the water tower rated the 85,000-gallon tank, which is about 70 years old, as poor. In addition, the borough’s average daily demand is 110,000 gallons, and the borough should have a 200,000-gallon capacity according to its engineer.
The Finance Committee made the recommendation Monday after learning last month that the state could provide a no-interest loan and low-interest bonding to finance a repair or replacement of the borough’s water tower and cleaning of its water pipes projects that could together cost the borough about $3 million.
Councilman Bob Silverstein said Thursday that the borough wants to get a second opinion on the condition of the tower and the supports holding it, as Councilman Jeff Ellentuck revealed last month that the recent inspection also found the supports may be an issue.
"We’re looking into (the repair) since it would be considerably cheaper," Mr. Silverstein said.
The cost to replace the water tower would be $1.25 million alone, while the cost to repair it would be about $600,000, the finance committee reported last month.
While it would be better in the long run to replace the tower, he said, borough officials are already struggling financially with its water and sewer budget, and they are trying to minimize rates.
"We just want to be prudent, and if we’re talking about that much money, we better look into the possibilities," he said. "We don’t want to have to raise rates more than we have to."
Borough officials do not yet know how much it would cost to hire a structural engineer, he said.

