People of Egremont
This
letter is to inform you of the Water Commissioners business plan for Egremont’s
Water Enterprise fund (EWEF), otherwise known as the water company. I must
preface this letter by saying that I do not speak for the members of OneEgremont,
the finance committee or in any other capacity than a private citizen. I must
also state that I do have a bias against the plan of the (EWEF). I do not
believe that the town should formally take on the bond debt of the (EWEF) since
we are already responsible for any budget shortfall. To formally take on that
debt guarantees Egremont taxpayers will be subsidizing the (EWEF) in the amount
of $117,000.00
per year for the next ten years. It will also mean that this $117,000.00
will not be considered in the (EWEF) annual budget and make it appear as though
the (EWEF) is profitable which it has never been.
As you know the (EWEF) was set up
to purchase and operate the water company for the town of Egremont. It is a
private entity which serves just over 200 households including about 20 Great
Barrington residents. This enterprise was set up to run independently of the
town by three elected commissioners; yet the town of Egremont is responsible
for any budget shortfall. This means that all monies that are not raised by
(EWEF) through grants or fees must be subsidized by our taxpayers, 80% of which
cannot benefit from the water company services. Since the town is already liable
for any (EWEF) debt it seems unnecessary to transfer it to the annual town budget.
When the town decided to purchase
the water company they were assured by all the committees that studied the
issue that this endeavor would not cost the taxpayers “ONE THIN DIME”. Since that time it has cost the Egremont taxpayers
close to a million dollars in subsidies to the (EWEF). If we vote to transfer
the debt to the town, we guarantee that we will subsidize the (EWEF) to the
tune of $1,170,000.00
over the next ten years. To add insult to injury, any monies raised by the
(EWEF), so called profits, through grants and fees in excess of the budget will
not go back to the town. According to the charter, the way the (EWEF) is
legally set up, any “Profit”, by law, has to go into capital improvements for
the (EWEF) or back to the users.
This water company issue will
likely be put on the warrant for the next town meeting. The voters, or more
accurately those who show up for the annual town meeting, will decide if they
want to burden the entire town with the (EWEF) debt. Ironically, the voters
have already unwittingly burdened the town with the (EWEF) debt when they voted
to buy the water company in the mid 90s. Back then they did so with the
understanding that it would be financed through grants and user fees, not the
taxpayers. However, if they vote to take over the debt they will do so with the
full understanding that it will cost the taxpayers 1.2 million and all monies
spent will be irretrievable by the town.
I say all this to inform the
voters that if they want to defeat this measure they will have to pack the town
meeting with people who vote no on this issue. You see, in a town hall form of
government the voters choose how much money the town can spend and where it
will be spent. You must also motivate your friends and neighbors to come out to
the annual town meeting and vote their conscience. The bottom line is that we
the people have to direct our elected officials to spend our tax dollars in a
fair and equitable manner. We have already been saddled with this water company
boondoggle once; we do not have to throw good money after bad by burdening
ourselves with even more debt for a water company that cannot sustain itself
without taxpayer subsidies.
If you want to find out more
information on this issue, or want to tell people where to get this information,
all are welcome to come to the OneEgremont meetings and hear a full disclosure
of the facts and figures. If you have any questions or want to share your view
with your elected officials there is supposed to be a public meeting sometime
in Feb. This meeting will be a joint meeting between the Board of Select, the
Finance committee and the water commissioners. As this is a very important
issue affecting the town I hope that this meeting will be well attended by the
citizens. As soon as any meeting is scheduled I intend to send out an email as
to the date, time and place.
Thank you for your time
KevinZurrin
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