Quoted Text

Rotterdam Jct. water tank costs will soar later

    Those of us in Rotterdam Junction have been wondering just how much the new water tank now under construction will raise our taxes.
    Recently, most of us in Water District 3 received a letter from Clark Collins, the Water Department supervisor. Regarding the cost of operations, he said “For 2009, your costs per thousand dollars of your assessment, not including the debt for the new tank, were $1.72. This means that the average home assessed at $165,000 paid $284. For 2010, your cost per thousand dollars of your assessment, including the debt for the new tank, will be $1.75. The same average home is projected to pay $289, an increase of only $5!”
    This is confusing and also misleading. In clarification, Mr. Collins told me that the funding of debt for the first year only (2010) would come from a town reserve fund, which explains why there is no substantial increase in the tax for 2010. After that, we would be on our own — meaning that from 2011 on, we would each be assessed yearly for the several hundred dollars per household required to service this debt.

    EUGENE SZYMANSKI
    Rotterdam Junction

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03205&AppName=1

It's an election year Gene and TH is using the old smoke and mirrors trick again just like all politicians do. This is exactly why we need people in office that will say what they mean and mean what they say.

Take the water tower and be happy....it's a water tower......you need water.....I need sewers.....

Some want to be forced someday to drill a well. Most haven't hired a driller lately. I would love to see the looks on their faces when they got the bill.

is it more than $300????

10 to 30 times that...

It' water for God's sake.....they're not investing in an evening gown......I think edumacation about life
sustaining needs is required.....this isn't a park......

my cost for the water tower is over 500 bucks a year...senders when you get your sewers I hope it isnt that  big a kick in the a** !! Its not just water, its bull%$@#......Tomossone is sticking us where the sun dont shine....Gene, thanks for letting everyone know how full of it they are !!

OK, Biaggio, you represent old Rotterdam. Tell me how you would have handled the water tower in the Junction. Please, specifically. What is your plan? Did you know how bad it is? Have you read the engineering reports or visited the tank, or consulted with the water department about it's condition? What is your plan for a sudden and dramatic failur for when the tank won't allow you to have volume or pressure. Have you ever turned your tap on and gotten no volume or pressure? Or just a trickle? Please enlighten us as to what you would do in your water district where there are 600 users to split the cost...

Quoted from biaggio

my cost for the water tower is over 500 bucks a year...senders when you get your sewers I hope it isnt that  big a kick in the a** !! Its not just water, its bull%$@#......Tomossone is sticking us where the sun dont shine....Gene, thanks for letting everyone know how full of it they are !!

Yes....$500/yr is a tough pill to swallow....I'm in agreement with ya here. Because I don't live there, or involved in this....How long are you expected to pay this $500/yr? Every year, for how long?

And GB did have a point....what was the option? Again....I don't have a horse in this race, water is no problem for me. Just trying to understand what the people in the jct are going through with this issue.

The cost to the taxpayers in that district will go up next year when the subsidies cease.

Quoted from Shadow

The cost to the taxpayers in that district will go up next year when the subsidies cease.

So they will be paying how much and for how long yearly? And again, was there a better alternative?

It is somewhat true, you will actually have to pay for your own water tank. The law requires the district to pay for it, not the rest of the town. Steve should have done what the other administrations did, nothing. Then the chances are that the thing would have just failed one day under someone else's watch. When you turned you tap on that day and nothing came out, you would be venting your frustration at some other supervisor. What a jerk he is for fixing that now before it was too late. And worse yet, he didn't find a way to get it for free. Maybe the no-new taxers could figure out a way to get one for free.

The above illustrates how short-sighted some people in Rotterdam are. Ask your local realtor what your houses would be worth with a failed water system that has to be maintained via tanker truck. Also ask how much it would cost to have to build a new tank in an emergency rather than be able to get one at bid while steel prices are low.

As Senders talks about PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING. Steve has done that, he prevented you from having a catastrophe and he brought the price down using the reserves and is negotiating a cell tower deal to defray part of the cost. The new tank significantly lowers utility and labor cost to the district users. It will increase pressure and volume. It will have enough capacity for expansion which will also allow the district users (600) to share the costs thereby lowering theirs. At the end of the day, it is not cheap. But you live in a part of town with 600 users, which is an isolated part of town that people live in for a reason- it's rural, village like feel. If you want to live near Five Corners in all the hustle bustle then there are 5,000 users to spread the cost of your water system. Take your choice. Or move to the country further out, drill a well, pay to treat it, pay to pump it, buy a generator so you still have water when the power goes out and tell us about how you saved money.

Some of you live in the past. That is sad.

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

It is somewhat true, you will actually have to pay for your own water tank. The law requires the district to pay for it, not the rest of the town. Steve should have done what the other administrations did, nothing. Then the chances are that the thing would have just failed one day under someone else's watch. When you turned you tap on that day and nothing came out, you would be venting your frustration at some other supervisor. What a jerk he is for fixing that now before it was too late. And worse yet, he didn't find a way to get it for free. Maybe the no-new taxers could figure out a way to get one for free.

The above illustrates how short-sighted some people in Rotterdam are. Ask your local realtor what your houses would be worth with a failed water system that has to be maintained via tanker truck. Also ask how much it would cost to have to build a new tank in an emergency rather than be able to get one at bid while steel prices are low.

As Senders talks about PLANNING PLANNING PLANNING. Steve has done that, he prevented you from having a catastrophe and he brought the price down using the reserves and is negotiating a cell tower deal to defray part of the cost. The new tank significantly lowers utility and labor cost to the district users. It will increase pressure and volume. It will have enough capacity for expansion which will also allow the district users (600) to share the costs thereby lowering theirs. At the end of the day, it is not cheap. But you live in a part of town with 600 users, which is an isolated part of town that people live in for a reason- it's rural, village like feel. If you want to live near Five Corners in all the hustle bustle then there are 5,000 users to spread the cost of your water system. Take your choice. Or move to the country further out, drill a well, pay to treat it, pay to pump it, buy a generator so you still have water when the power goes out and tell us about how you saved money.

Some of you live in the past. That is sad.

Although I believe that a new water tank was needed AND from what I have read, the residents in that district attended meetings so they were informed,  I still don't understand why the yearly rate has increased more than what was projected, as one resident has posted.

And please GB....don't use the liberal fear tactics spin!

GB...I dont believe you understand because you are looking at this at a very high level...of course we dont want to run out water.....expansion in the junction PLEASE the rest of rotterdam doesnt even acknowledge it exists. There is no where to expand !! Unless you want to do something Commercial...uh oh there goes the the rural villiage type feel !!

The Junction will get spanked with this for a long time.