RSS 2.0 FeedThursday, January 19, 2012, Bellmore Life
Water Authority moves forward despite setbacks
Good news, bad news from WASNEC.
Richard Ronan, chairman of the Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County, had good news and bad news for residents at its seventh meeting held at the Merrick Golf Course Clubhouse last week.
The good news: WASENC has hired the law firm of Sahn, Ward, Coschignano and Baker of Uniondale to provide legal services to WASENC as it explores the possibility of a public takeover of Aqua New York. Aqua is a private water company that provides water to Wantagh, Seaford, Bellmore and Merrick as well as parts of Massapequa.
Additionally, WASENC has received $75,000 – $50,000 from the Town of Hempstead and $25,000 from the Town of Oyster Bay – to continue research and address other costs associated with a feasibility study on the possible takeover.
“We had thought we’d be able to do the study with very little money, including some state grants. But with the present economy there was no grant money available. We went to the county, looked for federal funding, there was nothing. We are very pleased that in an economy like this the towns were able to help us. They could take a lot of heat for this,” said Mr. Ronan.
WASENC board members Richard Ronan, Edward Kennedy, John Reinhardt and Walter D’Amato then voted to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for professional services for engineers and accountants. The board will give 30 days to respondents and then review proposals and conduct interviews in an executive session.
Board members feel the study could take about five or six months to complete, once all the experts are hired and in place.
And the bad news: Mr. Ronan explained that Aqua New York and Long Island American Water were meeting last week before the state Public Service Commission in Albany to negotiate the terms of the sale of Aqua New York to American Water.
Although WASENC asked the PSC if the water authority could be kept informed of the negotiations, the request was denied.
“Aqua and American Water went to the courts to conceal all internal numbers and this request was granted by the judge,” explained Mr. Ronan. “We can’t see those numbers [which refer to the value of the company].”
Mr. Reinhardt added that this was “an arms-length transaction. We would have liked a more open dialogue, but that is not the case. The administrative law judge ruled to keep some information secret. They [Aqua and American] cite a third party as reason for the privacy. They don’t want us to know about the method of their studies. It hurts us, but we’ll do our own evaluation,” he said.
“It makes no difference if we buy from one company or another,” added Mr. Ronan.
But residents disagreed.
“Now I learn that Aqua is selling to American and we can’t find out what’s going on?” asked Joseph Post. “There should be an open-door policy; it’s about freedom of information. Why doesn’t this apply? Can we appeal the judge’s ruling? Why duplicate [the study] when the information [about the value of the company] exists?”
“Why should the court block the public? Why does the PSC allow the sale when there is a possible public sale?” asked Douglas Sherna.
“Just the fact that a private company has that right [to block information] over the public is another reason to have public water,” added activist Claudia Borecky of North Merrick.
Mr. Reinhardt said the pending sale was “a distraction. We are moving ahead on the evaluation study and if we were to go to court to intervene [in this matter] it would cost us money.”
“We need to move forward on this,” said Mr. Ronan, who encouraged the public to write an e-mail to the PSC to “let them know what you think. They need to hear from you.”
Mr. Ronan said WASENC had asked that any hearing on the sale be held locally so that people could attend them. To date, there has been no reply from the PSC, he said.
County Legislator David Denenberg pointed to another troubling issue. “There is a constitutional issue being raised here with regard to tax money paid to school districts with public water. It’s not fair and a PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] might have to be addressed in the study for those school districts [who now receive tax money] in municipal water districts.”
“It may not be fair but that’s what it is right now,” said Mr. Ronan. “We have discussed this issue with counsel and will address it in the future.”
Editor’s note: If you’d like to send a comment to the Public Service Commission go to www.dps.ny.gov/. Under the heading of water click on the link to American Water Works Acquisition. MatterCase No=11-W-0472.
