• Will Suozzi Sell Bay Park Sewage Plant? •
We all have heard the county is nowhere near filling a $130 million budget gap. Recently, County Executive Tom Suozzi issued a doomsday forecast of how the county would be caused to lay off county employees, police and corrections officers, in addition to closing county parks and museums, and making many other drastic cuts to programs for the seniors and youth of Nassau County.
Suozzi also threw out the idea that the county may sell its sewage treatment plants to the highest bidder. Tucked into the back of a report he recently made to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, Suozzi said privatization in the two areas could save taxpayers "millions of dollars a year in direct labor costs and tens of millions in capital expenditures."
Privatization of sewage treatment systems is a controversial issue, people are unsure of its economics and efficiency. On one side you have a recent Newsday story which reported that Indianapolis city officials are happy with the privatization of sewage treatment facilities that it has had since 1994. On the other hand, you have insightful folks like Mr. Leon Korobow, who wrote in a recently published letter to Newsday: "Why would any private investor agree to purchase and then upgrade the county's sewage treatment system without the ability to recover the costs and earn a competitive return? The sale would mean that county residents would face escalating sewer charges for the foreseeable future."
We are left to wonder many things: What if a LIPA-like company takes over the sewage plant and soaks us dry just like LIPA? What will happen if Suozzi closes the parks? If Bay Park is closed to the public, does that means the sewage plant would expand? What does our lunkhead legislator, Jeff Toback, think of all this? Will the sale of the sewage system come to fruition during the short time Suozzi has left until he gets voted out of office? Stay tuned!
