What Are We Doing?

Supports Measure V (October 23, 2016)

In the attempt to create a public water company we are destroying the property rights of a private and well-operated firm. Is it any wonder that the USA ranks somewhere between 15th and 30th in overall freedoms in the world? But, I have to ask if the Town Council has thoroughly investigated national trends in desirability of public water systems ownership?

Here is a peek at the national trend in municipalities currently burdened with running their public water systems. I refer to an article in The Oxford Communique of September 2016 dealing with the overall water market in the country. Oxford is a widely subscribed and respected market report. Oxford said: And the water industry remains ripe for consolidation. There are more than more than 150,000 public water systems (EPA says 155,000). Many municipalities are tired of dealing with all the compliance obligations. Most would like to wash their hands of the responsibilities of protecting, maintaining, and upgrading these systems.

These findings cast a long shadow on the desirability of professional management of a long-standing water firm with untrained and inexperienced politicians and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to do it. Isn’t this about raising taxes for projects like golf courses and burned out and inaccessible properties with on-going costs?

Remember, every dollar spent by government is a tax dollar even if it is spent for a non-budgeted purpose. Maybe we are just putting diamonds on a $10 dress. To help avoid this, Measure V needs to be passed and the government’s Measure W defeated.

Richard C. Schappert, Apple Valley

Source: Daily Press