Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Killing Us Softly With Sewers . . .

Utica OD: Sewer costs overflowing: Projects will be costly to ratepayers
A convergence of several sewer projects is hitting local residents hard in the pocketbook. And it only will get worse as the years go by — you might be paying at least $80 more a year by 2016. . . . Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said the county doesn’t have a choice but to make the repairs and upgrades.
Pure BS plain and simple. One of the "repairs and upgrades" is:
 . . . construction of an improved pipeline, or interceptor, for the planned nanotechnology sites in Marcy.
The choice here is "don't do it!" Simple enough. 
  1. No one is holding a gun to Mr. Picente's head to extend sewers to the NanoCenter site, it's an option.
  2. When a new development is proposed -- any development -- the county has an OBLIGATION TO REFUSE tie-ins to its system that the system is incapable of handling. (That, BTW, is how the County got into its Consent Order mess to begin with. It was too easy with developers and did not know how to say "no" to new connections that caused increased pollution to spill into the River.) Upon refusal, developers, then, have to implement alternative means of waste disposal as part of their obligation to reduce the environmental impacts of their projects under the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
  3. Going into hock for a big industrial user leaves Sewer District Rate-Payers vulnerable to rate-shocks should the industrial user pack up and leave -- which is exactly what happened when Beech Nut left Canajoharie, forcing rates there to skyrocket.
  4. It is gambling with Rate-Payers money to build an expansion that might not be used because  (a) a chip fab does not come or (b) the chip fab that comes decides that it makes more sense to treat its industrial waste water itself and discharge same directly rather than use the county facilities.
Why would anyone want to come into a community where sewer rates are unnecessarily high?  

The immediate question now is, why would the County Legislature approve of such nonsense?  
  • Perhaps it is because most have no "skin in the game"  since it is the Rate-Payers who are confined to the Greater Utica area that are being placed on the hook to pay for this.
  • Perhaps it is because they are desperate to hold on to their pay and benefits as legislators that they will do what ever the political elite tell them to. . . or
  • Perhaps it is because they simply have no clue what they are doing.
What ever the reason, they are drowning us in infrastructure and killing us with astronomical costs.  It needs to stop if this region ever hopes to make a come back.

An in-depth discussion of this issue can be found on the New Hartford Online posting Who is representing the sewer ratepayers??? It is worth reading and and watching the video.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You need to read Tainter's "Collapse of Complex Civilizations" to understand why extending the sewers would never not happen.

Anonymous said...

There are two reasons why the sewer will be extended. 1. Contracts including engineering and construction. 2. Most of the legislators are very challanged in the thinking department.

Anonymous said...

Attend a public hearing held by county officials who are corrupt? Why bother? I have better things to do with my time besides attending a hearing held by a bunch of liars.

The whole county political process is a farce.

Silence Dogood said...

Look at the expansion at Golbal Foundries just announced yesterday
http://fortedward.wnyt.com/news/business/177709-globalfoundries-build-rd-center-add-1000-jobs

Anonymous said...

They are killing us softly in by inch drop by drop all the while feeding us pie in the sky.

Anonymous said...

We elect them!!!

Strikeslip said...

Amazing isn't it? BTW the legislation re the nanocenter passed with only 2 nos.

Have you ever gone to one of the Legislature's Public "Hearings?" I did a few years ago on a sewer issue. The room was almost empty. Unlike public hearings in Utica where the Council attends on even the most trivial property transfer, legislators do not attend. The hearings are a total sham.

Anonymous said...

Picente and DiMeo are two sides of the same counterfeit coin running this county.

Cheap sewer service Ozone Park said...

The government should actually look at the problems.