By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

NORTH SMITHFIELD —Lincoln Drive residents George and Carol Nasuti weren't worried about paying for their son's college education until they sat down one day last week and figured out exactly how much it will cost them as homneowners to tie into the town's sewer expansion project.

According to their calculations, when all is said and done, they will end up having to pay a total of $43,585 over the next 20 years.
“After looking at that number, I'm concerned about being able to afford to pay my son's college tuition,” Nasuti told members of the Town Council at a second public hearing on the sewer project Wednesday night.
It was another capacity crowd of residents who turned out at the high school  to comment on the sewer bond, which has sparked a massive protest by residents concerned about the cost of having to tie into the project. The three-year project, which us under way, is being financed by a $21-million sewer bond approved by voters in 2007. The bond will be paid off over a period of 20 years by the approximately 1,000 homeowners required to tie into the system. The first phase of the project is completed and the second phase began earlier this month.
But many homeowners are concerned about the long-term cost of the project, which they claim was never explained in detail before voters went to the polls in 2007. Residents are up in arms over estimates that could see the average homeowner pay about $21,000 - perhaps as much as $30,000 with interest - over 20 years. There is also the issue of thousands of dollars in separate costs for homeowners to connect to the new sewer grid.
But Nasuti and several other residents Wednesday said the project is likely to cost homeowners more than $40,000.
Nasuti said his calculations show that he will have to pay $286.77 per month for the first five years and then $146.55 per month for the next 15 years after that. Nasuti says that comes out to $17,206 for the first five years and $26,379 for the next 15 years for a grand total of $43,585.20 over 20 years.
Last week, residents Bob Thurber and Mariellen Sheridan released their own calculations, which showed a total cost per resident of $28,898 to $44,558. According to Thurber and Sheridan, these are one-time costs with only the assessment fee factored over 20 years. The other costs, they said, must be paid by the homeowner upfront or through loans.
Many residents have called on the Town Council to halt future phases of the project and reexamine the financial burden they say will be placed on homeowners.
Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton has asked the council to suspend the project for up to 60 days in response to the public protest over the project’s cost. Hamilton wants the 30- to 60-day moratorium so town officials can review the project and its financial impact.
There has been no decision made by the council as of yet.
The first half of last night's hearing was devoted to questions poised by members of the Town Council to the town solicitor and engineers involved with the project.
The council specifically addressed a citizens petition that was submitted to them on Monday asking the council to stop the project. According to the town's legal counsel, the council isn't required under the town charter to act on the petition.
Many residents say they were not properly informed of the financial ramifications of the bond referendum before it was voted on in 2007. Still others say they are frustrated that people who either didn't vote for the bond or were misled about the actual cost are now being forced against their will to tie into the system and pay thousands of dollars at a time when the economy is in decline.
Town Council President David Lovett tried to show last night that there were ample meetings and hearings by both the council and the Sewer Comission prior to the 2007 election, and that previous sewer projects used similar funding formulas.
In the meantime, Sewer Commission is investigating the possibility of an extension to the one-year sewer tie-in deadline by the fall of this year.