Politics & Government

Water Authority Board: Aqua Takeover Will Not Happen Overnight

Residents pack first board meeting of reactivated Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County.

A newly reconstituted water authority tasked with exploring the feasibility of a public takeover of Aqua New York met for the first time in Merrick Thursday night. 

The five directors of the Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County (SENWA)– by the towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay–told a crowd of nearly 100 residents that everyone shared the same goal. SENWA covers both Wantagh and Seaford.

"We are all here for the same reason," said John Reinhardt, commissioner of Hempstead Town's Department of Water, who was elected secretary of the SENWA board, "We are all residents and customers.  We are here to look to see if there is a solution, to try to lower rates, to make it a little more equitable to residents in other districts."  

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The reason 100 people packed into the golf clubhouse Thursday on short notice was simple: They all believe they are paying way too much money for water under privately-owned Aqua.

Richard Ronan, who was elected chairman of the SENWA board, acknowledged that point at the start of the meeting in an attempt to keep the focus on what could be done moving ahead. 

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"We all know the rates are high," said Ronan, of Merrick, who recently retired as the Town of Hempstead's sanitation commissioner. 

Aqua New York, a subsidiary of Aqua America which posted a $104 million profit in 2008, serves more than 152,000 residents in four counties in the state, including residents of Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, East Massapequa, Levittown, Massapequa Park and parts of Glen Cove. 

Thursday's meeting was relatively tame compared to previous ones over the past year, as residents first lobbied the state's Public Service Commission to nix a proposed Aqua rate hike (which the commission eventually approved) and then urged the Hempstead Town Board to appoint new board members to SENWA.  

Nassau County Legis. Dave Denenberg, D-Merrick, has been one of the biggest proponents of an Aqua takeover. Denenberg the Republican-led Hempstead Town Board on the issue several times over the last year, but on Thursday, the legislator said now was the time to put politics aside. 

"Aqua charges the same whether you are a Democrat or a Republican," he said. "This is not about politics." 

Reinhardt, of Merrick, said the water authority was an "independent board" that works in the name of the residents serviced by Aqua. 

"We report directly to New York State, not Hempstead or Oyster Bay," he said.  

SENWA was originally created by the state in 1991, but was abandoned in 1997 amid public fears that creating a water authority not subject to paying property taxes would only push the burden onto residents to cough up more, according to a 2007 report from then Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman. 

Aqua officials, however, have said the reason its water bills are so high–residents have reported paying in excess of $1,000 a year for Aqua water compared to a few hundred dollars for a similar amount of water in a public district–is because the company must pay those property taxes to school districts. 

"We understand that some of our customers are concerned with how our rates compare with those of neighboring water systems," Aqua spokeswoman Donna Alston told Patch in September. "We have explained that the primary difference in our rates and those of other area water providers is the fact that approximately 35 percent of our water bill is comprised of taxes." 

Advocates of a public takeover have long maintained that any additional money residents would need to pay in school taxes to cover Aqua's share would be more than made up in the savings on their water bills. 

"Don't be scared away by school taxes," Denenberg said. "If you pay $10 more in school taxes and save $100 to $200 in water bills, it's worth it." 

The new SENWA board members said it was tough to tell how long the entire process will take if studies determine that taking over Aqua makes sense. 

"We are not looking at this as a long-term project, but it is also not going to happen overnight," said Walter D'Amato, a community activist from Massapequa.  "We have to do this in the correct way because this needs to be done in the correct way." 

Aqua America paid $51 million in 2007 to acquire the former New York Water Service Corporation.  Before the SENWA board decides whether to move ahead with a takeover, it must first determine the value of Aqua. 

"Fifty million requires an analysis to understand what you are buying," said John Molloy of Wantagh, who was elected treasurer of the board.

The endgame of the process may well end up in court, Reinhardt said. 

"There is not an ad in the paper right now saying that Aqua is for sale for a certain amount of money," he said.  "They are making money here.  They do not want to sell."

While an Aqua takeover is coming no time in the near future, North Merrick resident Anthony Calabro said he didn't see the need for a lengthy process and discussion of whether residents will save money in a takeover. 

"Because it's a private company," Calabro said of Aqua, "it will always cost us more for water because they have to make a profit.

"We do not need to spend three years to figure that out," he added, drawing applause from the crowd.

Rich Marino, of North Bellmore, echoed those sentiments, saying that residents were more than fed up with their water bills. 

"Our water bills are way too high," he said.  "We should concentrate on that issue only."

Board members, some of whom met each other for the first time Thursday, said they would now get moving on studying research done by the previous board in the early 90s and reach out to those former board members for their advice and opinions.

"It will take us a while to get up to speed," Ronan said. 

The board is still working out details on when and where to hold future meetings, but residents made clear that they wanted to hear from the board regularly. 

"We don't want to wait two to five years for answers," Marino said.  "We want answers now."


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