By John M. O’Hara

With oil spill remediation still underway at both Somerville High School and the DPW yard, the details of how the city will fund the effort are still being ironed out.

“We’re going to wait while the administration formulates a proposal and see if maybe we can save on total costs, or at least on the costs of floating the bond,” said Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero.

The Board of Aldermen was presented with a glut of invoices Feb. 8 relating to the remediation at the high school from the oil spill over Christmas break.  Total costs incurred were $268,000 and city officials have projected a total cleanup cost of $400,000, proposing to cover it with a municipal bond for the same to cover it, Pero said.

Due to the many invoices, aldermen determined the issue should be revisited at a later date so they could assess the costs with due diligence and allow the remaining invoices to come in, Pero said. 

“Of course, we just want to provide the proper oversight and make sure the city is getting its money’s worth from the contractor,” he said.

In the meantime, an oil leak was discovered at the DPW yard and remediation was begun by Commonwealth Tank Company, the same firm working at the high school.

“Now the administration will probably combine the requests,” said Alderman-at-Large William A. White.

With the $400,000 bond on the shelf for the moment, it may be more expedient to pay for remediation outright with free cash, White said.

‚ÄúOften the city will run a surplus,‚Äù said White.  Due to employee attrition, departments not using all of the money in their budgets, and higher than anticipated revenues from city fees and fines, the city will have money remaining at the end of the fiscal year, said White. 

‚ÄúFree cash‚Äù as the surplus is called, cannot be used by the city until it has been certified by the state as legitimate surplus money.  White said the city has not received certification of the free money from the last fiscal year, but when it does it may be possible to cover the cost of remediation outright with those funds, rather than issuing bonds.

‚ÄúBonds are good in a way because you are able to spread out the cost over an extended period,‚Äù he said.  ‚ÄúThe bad thing is that you are paying interest on the initial figure that whole time,‚Äù he said.

The interest on a bond can end up costing the city about half as much as the total cost of a project, White said.  White said he knows neither the projected surplus figure or the projected total cost for the oil remediation and he is reserving judgment about the best way to handle the situation until all those figures come in. 

“When we have all the invoices in we’ll make sure that we cover costs in the
most efficient way possible,” said Pero.