FLORIDA — Public officials are looking for community feedback about the possibility of extending water and sewer services into the hamlet of Fort Hunter.

Florida Town Board members were presented Monday with a study conducted by McDonald Engineering into the feasibility and cost of the project.

Town Supervisor William Strevy said many of the hamlet’s residents have had problems with their wells and septic systems. The study found that a high water table coupled with relatively small lots creates a potential for contamination in the water supply.

“We are trying to rectify the problem, and a sewer line would make it go away,” Strevy said.

Strevy said this all came about because a group of residents was looking for a way to reduce their fire insurance costs. A water line would reduce their insurance bills by about 50 percent, Strevy said.

“There might be enough savings by reducing fire insurance to offset the cost of the system,” Strevey said.

The study gave residents two options for water and sewer services: extend the city’s water and sewer lines already in the town of Florida to the hamlet or build new infrastructure.

The study found that the extending services from the city was the most cost-effective option, but still expensive.

Assuming that the water and sewer lines would only have to be extended from the potential Florida Business Park extension, and that the town was able to receive more than $1 million in grants for each service and a 30-year no-interest loan from the state, the study found that residents would pay about $816 per year for water service, including maintenance and $458 per year for sewer service.

The figures are also assuming that owners of all 113 parcels in the hamlet decided to hook into the system.

The state Comptroller’s Office regulates how much a resident can pay for water and sewer services. The Comptroller’s Office was unable to comment late Wednesday, but Amsterdam Town Supervisor Thomas DiMezza said the threshold for water service is about $600 per year, adding that the town has to ask for state permission to exceed that.

The potential expansion of the Florida Business Park would put water and sewer services within 2,500 linear feet of the hamlet.

If the deal goes through, extending water service to Fort Hunter would include 12,000 linear feet of water mains, 24 valves and 29 fire hydrants. The system would be supplied by a 3 million gallon tank already located in Florida.

The entire system would cost $2.89 million.

Extending sewer service would include a pump station in the hamlet to bring wastewater east to the potential Florida Business Park extension, where it would be pumped back to the city. The total cost of sewer service would be $2.75 million.

The Florida Town Board asked McDonald Engineering to see what sort of grant money the town could obtain for the project.

An initial questionnaire about extending water and sewer service given to residents drew mixed feedback.

“This way we can come back to the people with something again,” Strevy said. “This is just the beginning. We have a long way to go down this road and we’ll go wherever it takes us.”