Cheap shot at Princeton
My friend, Scott Bolejac with The Herald, took what I believe to be a Cheap Shot at Princeton in his Friday editorial.
He is taking the politically popular route, not what is best for the county.
Princeton has built and maintained a water system that has served people outside the town for twenty years. They tied on and paid the bills because they wanted water, not because they had to. They have benefitted from having water available, and others will continue to benefit. It benefits the county for towns to extend water and sewer beyond their corporate limits to serve people they can, not just town taxpayers.
Princeton has discontinued wells, as it was not cost efficient with the high mineral content, and is now buying their water from the county. They are charging, as most towns do, the cost for delivering the water through their system. When they have to finance improvements, they often do with developer money paying the bills. When faced with big bills for maintenance or improvement, they seek grants, and what they can't finance with grants, they often finance with bond issues. The bond people often tell the towns how much they will have to charge each customer on their system to pay off the bond. The fewer number of customers, the more each customer has to pay. Princeton taxpayers, I assure you, Scott, are not being subsidized from water rates as you suggest. Pick up the phone and call Keith Peedin. Many auditors chastise town boards for not charging enough for water and sewer, and passing some of their water costs on to taxpayers. I've never heard them chastised by auditors for charging too much for water. By taxpayers and rate payers, always, but by people in charge of town's making responsible financial decisions, never.
One has to question why a county commissioner, when he built a subdivision along the Princeton water line, suddenly got county blessings for the people in his development to get lower water rates than their neighbors. Was it Princeton's water line, or was it the county taking it back to the benefit of a county commissioner? When the county commissioners' neighbors started complaining, suddenly it wasn't Princeton's line after all. Wasn't it the Princeton-Pine Level Development Corporation that built the line? To serve the interests of the two towns? Or was it for the benefit of the re-election of a county commissioner?
He is taking the politically popular route, not what is best for the county.
Princeton has built and maintained a water system that has served people outside the town for twenty years. They tied on and paid the bills because they wanted water, not because they had to. They have benefitted from having water available, and others will continue to benefit. It benefits the county for towns to extend water and sewer beyond their corporate limits to serve people they can, not just town taxpayers.
Princeton has discontinued wells, as it was not cost efficient with the high mineral content, and is now buying their water from the county. They are charging, as most towns do, the cost for delivering the water through their system. When they have to finance improvements, they often do with developer money paying the bills. When faced with big bills for maintenance or improvement, they seek grants, and what they can't finance with grants, they often finance with bond issues. The bond people often tell the towns how much they will have to charge each customer on their system to pay off the bond. The fewer number of customers, the more each customer has to pay. Princeton taxpayers, I assure you, Scott, are not being subsidized from water rates as you suggest. Pick up the phone and call Keith Peedin. Many auditors chastise town boards for not charging enough for water and sewer, and passing some of their water costs on to taxpayers. I've never heard them chastised by auditors for charging too much for water. By taxpayers and rate payers, always, but by people in charge of town's making responsible financial decisions, never.
One has to question why a county commissioner, when he built a subdivision along the Princeton water line, suddenly got county blessings for the people in his development to get lower water rates than their neighbors. Was it Princeton's water line, or was it the county taking it back to the benefit of a county commissioner? When the county commissioners' neighbors started complaining, suddenly it wasn't Princeton's line after all. Wasn't it the Princeton-Pine Level Development Corporation that built the line? To serve the interests of the two towns? Or was it for the benefit of the re-election of a county commissioner?
posted by Barry | 4:03 PM
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