Published: November 05, 2009 09:57 pm      

Waiting game continues over flood tort claims against city

Benedetti to ask for stormwater loan from rainy day funds

Sewage and dirty rain water rose quickly inside A Car Doctor Aug. 4, causing an estimated $65,000 in damage to the State Street business.

But conversely, as fast as the flood filled the basement of William Greer’s establishment, a response to a tort claim he filed with the City of New Albany has been painstakingly slow.

“I’ve called [the city’s insurance company] everyday for the last three weeks and nobody will return my call,” Greer said.

He faults the city for the sewage backup that left enough wastewater in A Car Doctor’s basement that it had to be pumped out. City crews repaired a ruptured sewer line under State Street a few weeks after the flood, and Greer said there have been no problems since the work despite heavy rains.

The lack of flooding in and around his business since the utility work was administered shows the city was liable for the Aug. 4 damage to A Car Doctor, Greer said.

Now he just wants an answer as to who will flip the costs for repairing his business.

“It’s carried on a little too far,” Greer said. “I think it's pretty bad.”

Beginning in August, tort claims were filed by numerous residents and property owners that claimed the flooding damage they incurred was due to negligence by the city as it pertains to maintaining infrastructure.

Those claims were turned over to the city’s insurance carrier for consideration. Multiple calls to City Attorney Shane Gibson Wednesday and Thursday to check the status of those claims were not returned as of press time.

Mayor Doug England said he’s not heard an update as to where the tort claims stand, though City Councilwoman Diane McCartin-Benedetti said during a meeting Monday she’d been contacted by a few residents whose requests had been denied by the insurance company.

“We can only do what the insurance company will do,” England said Thursday. “I hope everybody gets covered.”

Without insurance help, the city doesn’t have the finances to dole out money to flood victims for damage, England said.

Making matters worse for victims, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied an Indiana appeal Wednesday to provide relief assistance to the state for the Aug. 4 flood.

Benedetti hopes to meet with Gibson in the next few days to talk about the tort claims. It won’t impact what has already transpired, but she plans to introduce an ordinance at the next council meeting that would loan $300,000 from the city’s rainy day fund to the stormwater utility so two drainage projects can get under way.

Under the plan, stormwater would pay back the rainy day fund over 30 months at a low interest rate. Benedetti said the advance would allow drainage projects for the Castlewood Drive and Zurschmeide Drive areas to start rolling.

The council passed a $1 per month stormwater increase in August, which will generate about $440,000 in extra revenue next year. But that’s not enough funding to take out a significant loan to begin major infrastructure projects, Benedetti said.

Benedetti voted for the stormwater fee increase, but would have preferred it to be the $2 monthly jump the council had originally considered.

“We definitely need to start something for the taxpayers of the community, that’s why I went for the increase,” she said.

Stormwater crews have cleared significant amounts of debris from waterways in the last six months, but the maintenance work is separate from the infrastructure enhancements the Stormwater Board has mulled over.

The loan request for the utility will be on the Nov. 19 council agenda, Benedetti said.

“At least we’ll borrow within ourselves,” she said. “If something comes about and [the stormwater board] can pay it back ahead of time, that would be great too,” she said.