Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Water is wet, and Money is green...

We all know by now that Wilmington has about $200,000 left over from the water grant project, and they have to use it or lose it.

Some background information:

Many of the water meters that have been installed throughout Wilmington have transmitters on them... these were the meters that were installed during the big "meter push" 6 or 7 years ago.

We all remember how well the meter installations went now, don't we?
1) plumbing nightmares trying to shut water off that wasn't turned off in years (or ever)
2) the plumbers wouldn't/couldn't do the installations for the fee the town allocated
3) never got them up and running.

Wouldn't it be nice if someone on the board kept us informed of the status of the water meters? All the residences with transmitters installed and paid for are sitting unused because they are now outdated or not compatible with the newer installs (software wise). Does this constitute some sort of joke? Who is going to pay for new software updates and maintenance?

The Warbler agrees that we should all pay for water based on usage.

It would seem that hiring one or two part time meter readers might be a better system in the long run - the town would not have to pay benefits (recall that only part-time town board and town officials get benefits). Another alternative may be if The Bear gets a tase of the honey he could fit it into his very very busy schedule. (camps, house sitting, fishing licenses, etc.).

It seems we don't have anywhere else in the water that system attention, right?

In the words of our very own Supervisor, it would be our last chance to get grant monies for the water system updates unless Whiteface was added to the water district. So, if that was true, then this could be the last money we could get from the state as far as grants or low/no interest loans to fix our water system. Is this how we should spend the last money we have left?

Back to the $200,000 in surplus... During the town meetings for adding Whiteface to the water district, the Warbler remembers that "due to delays in getting various approvals", there was a substantial rise in the costs of materials and labor. The Warbler also remembers how all the updates to Rt. 86, Quaker Mt. Rd., Bonnieview and Haselton all kept getting cut. It finally reached a point where they said they could only do half of what they originally were going to do. Guess what... all of a sudden, they got everything fixed and even went further out on Haselton than they originally intended. In addition, the entire water main on Juniper Hill was replaced - and there was no town meeting discussions about that. Now, we have $200,000 left over! What the hell is going on down there on Community Center Circle? Does anyone know what they're doing down there?

What actually happens if the town doesn't spend that $200,000 ? Do we have $200,000 less to pay back (bonds, loans)? or to we just lose a $200,000 "gift" from the state?

Does anybody know?

No comments:

Post a Comment