Shedding
Some Light June 18, 2013
Last
night’s Light and Water meeting was well attended. The discussion with the
sewer commissioners has the first item discussed. The sewer commissioners are
looking for cooperation is shutting off water service for the most delinquent
or customers who blatantly refuse to pay their sewer bills.
The
other alternative for the sewer commission to pursue is installing a sewer
shutoff valve, which will entail BOH declaring the homes uninhabitable. The L+W
commissioners cited the legal opinion, which does not allow them to turn off
water service for sewer scofflaws. The Sewer commissioners requested that legal
opinion and the L+W commissioners voted to release that opinion to the Sewer
commissioners.
BUDGET –
The
L+W commissioners voted a new budget figure for FY 14 for $1,413,000. According
the GM Driscoll, this figure includes $30,000 in maintenance that will be
enough to cover the water improvements at the intersection of Baldwinville Rd
and Maple St. These improvements will be part of the Bald. Rd project and paid
for by the water department( $15,000 approximately).
It
is interesting to note that the citizen petition for the STM submitted by Ed
McClure is the exact same figure that was adopted last night by the commissioners.
GM
Driscoll asserted that the increase in the budget was minimal as a percentage.
There was no discussion about the sharp loss in revenue for the water
department or the necessity to double the service fee from $28/quarter
($112/year) to $56/quarter ($224/year) in order to achieve a balanced budget.