When Connecticut lawmakers updated the bottle deposit program last year, a five-cent surcharge was added to the sale of liquor bottles smaller than 50 milliliters.  The money is returned every 6 months to the Connecticut municipality where the nip was sold.  The cities and towns must use that funding for litter control and similar efforts.  Suggestions were included in the law including the hiring of a recycling coordinator, purchase of a street sweeper or installation of storm drain filters to prevent waste from entering local waterways.  Municipalities are given a lot of leeway and the law does not specify when the money must be spent.  There is also no oversight to ensure compliance with the intent of the law.  Nearly 37-point-6 million miniature bottles were sold between October and April resulting in more tan 1-point-8 million dollars returned to municipalities.  During the Bethel Board of Selectmen meeting last month. First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker noted that municipalities wanted a 10 cent fee, like on everything else.  He says that would have provided a strong incentive not to litter in the first place.  While they lost that fight, all of the 5 cent fee is returned to the municipality.  Bethel received its first check last month, for $7,647.  Knickerbocker says that funding could be used for grant funding for activities by the newly seated Sustainability Commission in the future.