RTC Wave
It seems that our Republican Town Committee dominated Council is poised to rubber stamp sale prices on whatever Harkins wants to sell. No matter that we (you and me) own it. Top prize on the list is the WPCA (Sewer Treatment Plant). It is hard to imagine anything else in Stratford that works as effectively and efficiently as our WPCA. After receiving large grants, subsidies and loans the WPCA is truly a state of the art facility benefiting not only Stratford, but the entire Long Island Sound as well as other communities. What’s more, it only takes 16 people to run the entire operation (not counting the 10 members of the WPCA Board/Council). Unfortunately for our politicians, the State of Connecticut requires that all “fees” collected for the use of the WPCA be used for the operation and maintenance of the WPCA and nothing else.
What does this mean? It means that the Sewer Use Fees that we have been paying cannot be used to subsidize Town-wide expenses like pensions, Public Works, the General Fund or shortages in the Town budget. You know, like Harkins has been doing for the last five years? Yes, since Harkins was elected mayor, sewer fees have steadily been going up. At first the flimsy excuse was to make the fees competitive with surrounding Towns. (AYFKM?) But we have been steadily increasing the “cash reserve” in the WPCA over the years of being overcharged (because the fees are more than necessary for the operation of the WPCA). After some exorbitant raises for non-union Town employees, large raises for BOE Administrators and a bunch of new toys for the boys (anyone seen the new 95 foot tower ladder yet?) it turns out the Budget is about $4.5 million short. How does the mayor make this shortage good? Well, there is $5.2 million in the cash reserve of the WPCA….
But we are not done yet. There is that Theater that is sitting on prime land right on the river. Prime enough to make any developer drool. So Republican Town Committee Chairman and sometimes Registrar of Voters Lou DeCilio wants to tear it down.
And then there is Eminent Domain. Rest assured, that will be back on the table before election day. We’ve already heard the the Colonial Square Shopping Center was a prime target of that one. But once Exit 33 starts construction…well, the sky is the limit.
And of course there is the coming budget…..
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