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@Patientman - You are not totally correct in your statement that "all Warwick taxpayers would have helped them cover the cost of the projects when they were in their neighborhoods".

I believe the orginal $130 million in borrowing that was authorized when the WSA was created were general obligations bonds on the first sewer projects. I beleive the interest payment on these bonds I believe was paid by taxpayers thoughout the city. So in that respect a small portion of the first project costs was shared by all citizens.

The subsequent project borrowing was authorized through revenue bonds which means that only the people who had sewers installed bore the cost of the projects. The issue of fairness is what happened when the WSA projects when under asssessed resulting in tens of millions of dollars in debt. What happen is that the WSA passed that debt onto every household that was connected to the system in the form of higher usage rates.

Now if you really want to be fair to everyone those households that participated in projects where the overall constuction cost was not fully paid because of the incompentence of the WSA in not assessing the cost correctly, then all the property owers for each of those projects should have been requiired to pay an additional assessment to make the overall construction cost of the project.

I asked why the WSA didn't do that and the answer was that it wasn't possible. Why? Instead the WSA has been jacking up the usage fees to a point that now I believe over 25 percent of the fee is paying for debt service.

So the bottom line is, as REALITY has stated, those that want sewers in their neighborhood should pay 100% of the cost of construction and the WSA as it currently operates, should be disbanded and a new organization structure created that is accountable for its decisions.

If the WSA was a private company, the CEO and board would have been fired years ago and the operation would be in bankrupcy court.

From: Sewers: It’s all a matter of money

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