RSS 2.0 FeedDecember 9, 2010, Merrick Life
New Water Authority board has first meeting
New water authority board hears complaints from customers of AQUA.
“We are looking for satisfaction and want this big, money-hungry company out of our pockets,” remarked Berta Weinstein, who succinctly summed up the feelings of the 100 or so residents who attended the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Southeastern Nassau Water Authority (SENWA) last week.
Ms.Weinstein and other residents came with a laundry list of complaints about Aqua New York, the private water company that serves Wantagh, Seaford, parts of Levittown and Massapequa, as well as the Bellmores and Merricks.
Residents in this area pay approximately three times more for water than their neighbors in communities that have a public water authority. The average water bill is $643 annually for 2010. Aqua serves approximately 40,000 customers in the Town of Hempstead.
The meeting, at the Merrick Park Golf Clubhouse, was led by the newly elected chairman of the authority, Richard Ronan of North Merrick. John Reinhardt, of Merrick, was elected as secretary. Edward Kennedy of Massapequa is treasurer. The other two board members are John Molloy of Wantagh and Walter D’Amato of Massapequa.
The board first took care of several housekeeping items, including opening a bank account, finalizing a mailing address and accepting seed money in the amounts of $10,000 and $5,000 from the Towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay, respectively, noting that additional funds would need to be raised in order to fund studies by engineers, accountants and other experts that would prepare them to go before a judge, if a public takeover is deemed to be in the public’s interest.
SENWA is an independent board appointed by both towns but reports directly to the state.
It was originally formed by state legislation in 1991 to study the possibility of creating a public authority and a takeover of then-New York Water (now Aqua) but was decommissioned in 1998 when it was determined the takeover was not feasible.
But in January of this year, the Towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay agreed to reactivate the authority after 750 people attended meetings last fall to try and stop a 12% rate hike Aqua was granted by the state Public Service Commission (PSC).
Board members indicated to residents that they would not try to reinvent the wheel. “This is not a new process,” said Mr. Reinhardt, who referred to a study done as far back as the 1980s by the PSC. “We will be gathering all that information through discovery letters,” he said.
Some residents expressed concern that the process would take as long as three to five years, and urged the board to hold monthly meetings. The board assured the public it wanted to move the process along as quickly as possible. “The next meeting will be within 60 days, and hopefully we can get things moving,” said Mr. Ronan.
The board was eager to hear from residents. “We are a clean slate,” said Mr. Ronan. “We know the rates are high, so please speak to other issues. Perhaps you can even suggest some solutions.”
County Legislator David Denenberg, who spoke first, urged residents to keep attending the meetings. “Somewhere in the mid-’90s this issue died, but we need to follow through. We can’t pay these rates anymore. Don’t be scared by off by those raising the issue of school taxes,” he said.
In the 1990s the authority concluded that the school taxes paid by the water company would have to be absorbed by residents if a public authority took over, thereby annulling any monetary advantage to residents.
But Claudia Borecky, president of the North Merrick Community Association, pointed out that the PSC permits Aqua to pass on 100% of the taxes it pays to the school districts to Aqua ratepayers. Ms. Borecky said “Aqua pays taxes to 33 school districts in the Town of Hempstead, but 26 of those districts don’t have Aqua water, yet we pay those school taxes.
“In North Merrick, Aqua pays $64,000 to the school district. If we paid those taxes that would come out to $10 a household. Ironically, Aqua pays $304,000 to the East Meadow School District, where they have public water.” Mrs. Borecky also pointed out that “water bills are not tax-deductible.”
Resident Rob Levitt pointed out that residents were “actually paying taxes twice. I was at the meeting where the firemen spoke about the increase in fees to use the fire hydrants. It’s outrageous.” The fee is $680 per hydrant in the Aqua water service area, compared to $75 in the public water district in East Meadow.
Bob Singer and Ms. Weinstein spoke about poor customer relations and billing errors. Irv Ruer complained about rising surcharges.
Anthony Collabro complained about the “awful water quality. There is too much iron in the water,” he said. Tony Rosalino added that “there is an odor in the water and stains in my faucets and toilets.”
But it was Ann Parry who summed up the feeling of many residents. “What will it take to get Aqua out of here?”
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