Processing poop is big government business. Sometimes budget-saving business. In this season of turning water into wine why not poop into pounds? Pounds of cash, that is. Who knew an entire region could be unified on this issue? Maybe.
Bridgeport and Trumbull not only share a border, they share a poop pipeline processed in Bridgeport that began more than 40 years ago with the building of the Trumbull Shopping Park, followed by town commercial growth and then decades-long transfer from septic to sewers. Most of Trumbull now has sewers. Bridgeport processes Trumbull’s waste for a fee and that agreement expires the summer of 2012. The communities are once again examining what a regional water pollution control authority would bring financially, as well as discussing a new user fee contract. Negotiations could be testy. Can neighbors get along?
In essence the communities could create a regional authority, a mini-municipality, that would purchase the wastewater assets, sewer lines, treatment plants, etc. of the municipalities. Presto, instant cash for Bridgeport and Trumbull and a constant revenue stream for the regional authority. It could mean $40 million for Bridgeport and $10 million for Trumbull, a tasty sum to keep down tax increases and possibly stabilize rates for many years. The city of New Haven entered into a regional authority with its neighbors several years ago. A host of issues must be negotiated such as the number of appointments to the regional authority and establishing rates going forward.
The town of Monroe which has no sewers could also be in the regional mix. Commercial growth of the town is limited without sewers. What happens if the communities cannot come to terms on a regional authority? An option for Bridgeport could be complete privatization, selling all of its wastewater assets to an industry company. And if that happens maybe Trumbull does the same. Perhaps the operator that purchases the Bridgeport system will do the same with Trumbull.
The downside to this? At some point the private operator is going to juice the rates.
Could any other towns be in the mix for a regional wastewater authority? Perhaps Stratford and Fairfield which have their own wastewater treatment systems. More communities could mean a bigger pile of state and federal dough to modernize cranky systems such as Bridgeport’s. One way or another 2012 looks like the Year of Sludge.
I read Bridgeport is preparing an RFP for new bids for water treatment. Are Paulie P and Joey G going to make a bid?
Lennie knows a lot about money in sludge.
He learned it all from his mentors: Ganim, Pinto and Willinger.
Merry Christmas Lennie.
I hope you don’t find too much sludge in your stocking!
Budget and Appropriations listened to Bridgeport WPCA officials for over an hour recently looking for $44 Million of bonding authority (in the name of the WPCA) but only half of it would come back to become the responsibility of the City in the event of a WPCA gross failure. With the 2012 deadline for Trumbull upcoming and relative silence in the news about regional efforts for the better part of the year how will all of this end up favorably for Bridgeport taxpayers is the question on my mind. How about you? I guess, time will tell?
How can selling an asset the taxpayers already paid for, and forcing the taxpayers (now ratepayers) to pay for it again, possibly end up favorably for the taxpayers?
What you have stated is a misstatement or misunderstanding of what may occur. In the first place, the “asset” in question to the best of my knowledge consists of miles of underground pipe that carry waste from bathrooms, kitchens and commercial locations under City streets past local pumping stations because of elevations of pipelines and tides or rain runoff (because some of our lines are so old that sanitary and street sewers have never been separated to this day. Bridgeport is working on it, with a lot of continuing expensive work ahead of us.
So the above asset gets sold to a regional WPCA and they pay for it with funds they raise in the bond market (and have to repay those funds over the years out of the rate base (just as we are doing today with Bridgeport WPCA bonds, which will get transferred as liabilities to the Regional WPCA). So Assets go away and liabilities go away and the net value, let us assume is $40 Million that Bridgeport gets to keep. In addition there are operating expenses ongoing which expenses are also part of the rate formula.
If there is strong local representation on the Regional Board no one will wish those rates to go up unnecessarily and in a funny way that might be beneficial for Bridgeport ratepayers who don’t get much opportunity to protest and less to learn details about public services.
Most important is what will an administration do with funds so realized, and that is where citizens will have to stay with their Council reps. and let them know how they feel. And good and dependable numbers will need to be prepared, discussed, adjusted where necessary and then regularly monitored. Does that sound like what happens to budgets, plans for revenue and expenses, here in Bridgeport??? What do you think? Time will tell.
BEACON2, for this issue I’m only looking at the bottom line. Only the Federal Reserve can create money out of thin air.
$40 million suddenly appears, as if by magic. I’m saying the City has found a way to extract $40 million from the taxpayers/ratepayers, without even the decency of calling it a tax. In fact, they will say your taxes have gone down, even though you’re now on the hook to pay back this bond. You can try to put a happy face on it and “trust” the City to use the money to honor an outstanding obligation, but I wouldn’t bet that way.
Let me draw a parallel to another subject near and dear to you. How did you feel when the Church closed and sold properties paid for by the parishioners? Seem fair to you? Are you personally ever going to contribute to building another church under this financing model?
Booty,
I am glad you asked that question although the legal situations truly differ. (I probably will not contribute to any building campaign where there is no ongoing and well established financial accountability. It is fine to trust other humans, but we need to be able to verify the numbers to reinforce the trust. This is a historical lesson!)
With our Bridgeport WPCA, a proposal to go regional must be presented to the public as well as the City Council for comment. Hopefully the City Council would have enough pressure put on them to develop a set of numbers that would look fair and reasonable. The City Balance Sheet would not change if it were paid the fair market value for its “system of lines, pumping and cleaning stations.” The problem you point out is if they take that money and spend it, rather than apply it against a balance sheet obligation that we will otherwise face and have to pay for with tax dollars eventually. So the dialogue could demand that type of commitment so the money would not be wasted. Perhaps.
With the Church, I own nothing. I have no share of anything with a Church title. Anything I provide to the Church is a gift and I have no right to an expectation for anything in exchange. Not even accountability for the way dollars are spent, or focused, or wasted. Diocese of Bridgeport with more than $1 Billion of assets and declining Church attendance has stopped putting out any financial info, even limited as they did up until 2008 on its web site. At the same time they demand some accountability and transparency at the parish level. When a parish gets behind in its ability to maintain its own plant, pay its assigned Bishop Appeal goal, finds itself in arrears on parochial school subsidy, repay of Diocesan loan, or Cathedraticum, and if its census is dropping, perhaps it is appropriate to close certain properties. It may be a good decision on many levels, but the people in the pew truly have no say by Church law or Connecticut law. The reason is the Bishops and their lawyers and their Conference lobbyists have persuaded legislators that they are the Church and all power over assets and properties/programs is in the titles they hold. Neat deal, isn’t it? Never covered in your Baltimore Catechism lessons was it?
And the local Bishop who used to acknowledge on his Web site Biography that he was a good communicator, has eliminated that claim, just as he has let go of the radio program Talk To The Bishop, dropped his blog site after one year of maintenance, and reduced the Diocesan newspaper from two editions per month to a monthly.
Essentially there is no two-way communication and while that may seem familiar when comparing the Church to Bridgeport municipal governance, we still have more of a say in City governance today. The only problem is people need to act and claim their freedoms. That is called responsibility.
When you let others serve you, isn’t it curious how they eventually claim all the power in order to serve you better and more faithfully?
Time will tell.
A dark aura is surrounding me.
I can feel something.
$20 mil — $30 mil — $40 mil … close a budget gap … screw taxpayers for the next 30 years.
Oh yeah. That aura! More of that crap!
Jimmy C is right on the money.
The taxpayers are not going to get a break in this deal.
The tax rate will go down and the regional water fees will be double what the old WPCA fees were.
The politicians will say we lowered taxes and if you want to complain about the sewer fees go talk to the regional WPCA.
Rip Off.
Guess you really need to have your BS detector loaded and ready to examine any and all concepts floated by leadership relative to handling the flow of citizenry waste product. I know a number approximating $40 Million has been put on the value of Bridgeport’s sanitary sewers and processing centers. Whether it is accurate or not needs someone more expert to advise them.
And maybe there is a bonus to Bridgeport for providing a workable and lower cost out to neighbors who have ridden our waste stream for years. Why does regionalism work for WPCA but not for so many other regional wants and needs with each community going about it separately???
And why wouldn’t a lump sum from an asset sale to a regional WPCA be more effectively used to stopgap Pension Plan A obligations? Or reduce balances in Internal Service Accounts? Or OPEB obligations? After all if the Mayor wanted to knock 1 or 2 mils from the current budget, the solutions are easy to find. Time will tell.
BEACON2, there you go again, trying to make sense and you know that’s not going to happen.
But Ron, maybe, just maybe, I caused you to chuckle a little? So if you don’t like coffee, choose your beverage and meal and get in touch, please. I think you can answer some things I am trying to understand but can find no good answers or sources. How about it? Maybe more laughter??? It is not always gallows humor, truthfully. Time will tell.
*** You’ve got to spend money to make money; and it’s even better when it’s not your own, no? If there are “BENJAMINS” to be made by all citys & towns involved you can bet your last tax dollar a regional water pollution authority will be in the development stages in the near future! *** “Please deposit 25 cents in the poop meter to use a public toilet!” ***
*** News Flash, state of CT overtaxes millions of residents trying to play catchup from changes called for in Jan. 2011. Many citizens received goose-egg paychecks for the holidays! No “$” mess-ups apparent at this time with state government & legislation checks however! *** HUMBUG ***
Regional water pollution control authority is bad for Bridgeport. Some say the city has a history of short term gain for long term pain solutions. The $40 million is a one-time fixed amount and not future payment in perpetuity. Please confirm otherwise. Monroe has been trying to dump its sewage into Bridgeport at least since the elderly home proposal. No sewage plan should even be considered until the currently combined pipes are separated in the entire city, sewage from water runoff. Also, if it rains for a second day, I am told untreated sewage goes directly into L.I. Sound.
As usual, Bridgeport will get the shitty end of the stick in this deal.
All this talk about shit and nothing about the Coble investigation that could bring down several top Finch administrators, a favored construction company and maybe even the pasta maker himself.
chs, tell us more. Inquiring minds want to know.
*** How about a taxpayers’ class action suit to stir the shitbowl? *** Messy ***