“How do we get people to tie in? Because over time, after the sewers are already in the ground and it’s time to tie in, people start saying they have other bills,” said Peter Ginaitt, a Warwick Sewer Authority (WSA) member and former State Representative.

That’s the question on the minds of many other city officials. During an extended presentation on sewers, WSA Executive Director Janine Burke said that, on average, about 60 percent of the people who can connect to the sewer system have done so in the Greenwich Bay area. And the numbers for the rest of the city are similar.

Almost 3,000 properties throughout the city that could connect to the sewer line haven’t. Technically, there is a mandatory connection system in the city, but it’s toothless. Residents who can, but refuse to connect, aren’t financially penalized.

There is a mechanism in state law that could potentially allow the WSA to charge residents who are not connected to the sewer line between $100 and $500 per day, as a public health nuisance. But the law as written, could be hard for the WSA to enforce, said Burke.

“It would be hard for us to prove, on a case to case basis in court, that one person’s cesspool is a public health nuisance,” she said.

Thus far, the WSA hasn’t gone that route, Burke said.

For this year, the connection statistics aren’t very impressive, she said.

“We have one more month left, and I don’t think we’re going to do too well with connections,” said Burke.

In a nutshell, the reasoning behind the need for residents who can connect to the sewer line to do so is twofold: it’s the best for the environment and it will provide the WSA with the necessary operational revenue it needs to keep going.

The WSA believes it could reap tens of millions of additional dollars per year in funding if those who can connect to the sewer line do.

But while Ginaitt suggested offering WSA coffee mugs to residents who complied with the mandate—an incentive, no doubt—the full committee has a penalty for those who don’t connect in store.

The committee unanimously agreed to go forward with a request to the city council to allow it to begin charging Warwick residents who choose not to connect to the sewer line approximately what their sewer usage bill would be were they connected to the system.

That could be a tough sell before the council, which unanimously voted against a fine for residents who refuse to connect to the sewer system in 2007.

Even at that point, well before the stock market and housing crashes of 2008, several council members said they couldn’t in good conscience pass on thousands of dollars in new costs to already struggling property owners. The move, they said, is akin to forcing people with financial problems of their own to make up for the unwise financial decisions of the WSA in the past.

The current WSA assessment rate is $82 per linear foot of property. That means a person with a 100-foot lot will pay $8,200 in assessment costs. Those costs can be financed over 20 years, albeit with a relatively high WSA assessment rate. The assessment is charged whether a landowner connects or not.

Councilman John DelGiudice (Ward-5) recently said he wasn’t in favor of a mandatory connection fee during an interview with the Beacon. Council President Bruce Place (Ward-2) has also said he hasn’t made his mind up on the issue.

Councilman Steve Colantuono (Ward-1) said he’s in favor of a mandatory tie-in system, so long as it’s implemented citywide.

The WSA, as well as Mayor Scott Avedisian, argue that more people connected to the sewer line spreads the costs throughout the system, creating a more fair and equitable funding system.

They also argue that people who choose not to connect to the system are “not paying their fair share,” according to a presentation Burke did on the mandatory connection program.

The Warwick City Council has scheduled an open-ended meeting with the WSA. Burke said she hopes the two government entities will get into the mandatory connection issue on that date.

The meeting is slated for Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.