The West Hartford Town Council’s Democratic caucus and the Republican caucus each issued a letter to State Sen. Beth Bye Tuesday, supporting the bill Bye introduced in response to the proposed Niagara water bottling plant.

By Ronni Newton

Members of the West Hartford Town Council announced Tuesday that they have written letters to State Sen. Beth Bye (D-5th), voicing support for a bill (SB422) she co-sponsored to prevent the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) from selling water to Niagara Bottling Company at a discounted rate and receiving priority for consumption during a public water emergency, as well as to prevent Niagara from receiving a discount for sewer usage.

Deputy Mayor Shari Cantor said that she and her Democratic colleagues decided to write a letter to Bye to express West Hartford’s concerns about the decisions the MDC made in crafting its arrangement with Niagara.

“We want to have a discussion with MDC leadership and the commissioners. We don’t want discounts given to entities whose only product is bottled water,” Cantor said. In addition, she said that the Democrats wanted to state for the record that West Hartford does not use tax abatement for development – which the Town of Bloomfield did in the case of Niagara.

Although SB422 has undergone several changes since it was introduced and Council members may not agree with every line in the current edition, they agree with its intended purpose, Cantor said.

The text of the Democrats letter can be found below. It was signed by Mayor Scott Slifka, Deputy Mayor Shari Cantor, and Council members Leon Davidoff, Judy Casperson, Beth Kerrigan, and Ben Wenograd.

The Republicans chose to write a separate letter to Bye in part because in addition to voicing support of SB422, they wanted to use the letter as an opportunity to officially state that the MDC’s ad valorem tax unfairly shoulders West Hartford residents with a disproportionate share of costs and is ultimately subsidizing both Bloomfield and Niagara.

“If West Hartford’s contribution were based on consumption it would be half,” Minority Leader Denise Hall said. “All of this controversy is one of those opportunities to make our residents aware and enlist our legislature to make changes,” Hall said.

Cantor said that although it’s not stated in the letter, which was just focused on the Niagara arrangement, the Democrats agree that the ad valorem tax is unfairly disproportionate.

The Republican’s letter, the text of which is found below, was written by Council member Chris Williams and signed by Hall and Chris Barnes.

West Hartford resident Kim Green, who formed the West Hartford Concerned Citizens in response to the Niagara arrangement and to increase citizen engagement, said she is pleased that both parties submitted letters to Bye, and is “so proud of the representation that we residents have in this town.”

Town Manager Ron Van Winkle said that an information session will be held with the MDC on April 27, 2016, at 7 p.m., in the Town Hall Auditorium. The MDC will make a presentation and respond to the public’s questions about its recent deal with Niagara.

Letter from the West Hartford Democratic caucus to State Sen. Beth Bye

Thank you for your sponsorship of Senate Bill 422 and your efforts to protect the water of West Hartford residents.

During the past several months, members of the West Hartford Town Council and our administration have engaged in discussions with our residents, MDC officials and others regarding the MDC’s contract with the Niagara bottling company. While we have expressed our opinions on the subject on an individual basis, we thought it important to provide you with a written expression of our sentiments.

We recognize that water consumption in commercial, manufacturing and residential use has decreased substantially over recent decades in our region. We understand MDC’s efforts to reduce costs to member towns by increasing the customer base but as a general matter, we do not support the MDC’s arrangement with Niagara nor do we support the general concept of selling MDC water for the sole purpose of bottling for commercial sale. Furthermore, we feel that the transparency surrounding this arrangement was extremely insufficient. Specifically, West Hartford officials had no knowledge of the deal until after it was completed.

We have also urged the MDC to cancel or amend the contract with Niagara and commit to not entering into future agreements with bottled water companies. In addition, we are not supportive of providing volume discounts for water to entities whose only product is bottled water. In the coming weeks, we will have a public meeting with MDC officials where we will further share these positions, concerns and questions including how to improve flow of information and communication.

While we respect that communities have different needs and we respect their right to make different decisions regarding economic development, West Hartford does not use tax abatement for economic development. 

We are aware that Bill 422 has undergone changes during the legislative process and may be subject to further change in the coming weeks. Accordingly, going forward we want to express our general support for a bill addressing the principle of guaranteeing the priority of residential water users over commercial users.

Thank you for your continued hard work on behalf of West Hartford, and please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Letter from the West Hartford Republican caucus to State Sen. Beth Bye

The West Hartford Republican Town Council caucus writes to you concerning Senate Bill 422 and legislative efforts to address public concern arising from MDC’s contract with Niagara Bottling.

SB 422 has two main objectives: (1) prioritize essential residential consumption of water over commercial entities for the duration of a public drinking water supply emergency; and (2) prohibit the sale of water to holders of a license for the business of bottling water at a rate less than any other consumer. We support these two objectives and encourage their adoption by the General Assembly.

The lack of transparency of MDC’s negotiation with Niagara Bottling is very troubling and must be corrected. We believe that the public, including most importantly the MDC member towns, was deprived of the opportunity for meaningful discussion and deliberation with respect to the sale of our water. To avoid such a scenario in the future, we urge legislative action to address the notice provisions governing the MDC’s resolution process. Specifically, we ask that the MDC be obliged to provide direct notice – by way of letter or similar correspondence – to member municipalities’ Town Manager and/or Town Council (or equivalent governing body) of proposals to provide rate discounts to certain groups of consumers, if SB 422 is unsuccessful in this respect. Notice through publication in a local newspaper is no longer an effective means of providing notice to a public that increasingly obtains its news electronically. Direct notice to local governing bodies is a cost-effective means of increasing local oversight and should provide the public with a greater ability to respond to the MDC measures which it may oppose.

Finally, West Hartford residents shoulder a disproportionate share of MDC’s cost given its ad valorem taxing structure. To provide context, West Hartford’s annual contribution to the MDC for fiscal year 2017 will increase $526,350 or 6.2% from fiscal year 2016 and will total approximately $9,000,000.00 – an increase of approximately $1,000,000 over the last two years alone. It has been estimated that if West Hartford’s contribution were based upon consumption, its total would be cut in half. Suffice it to say, we find the MDC’s ad valorem taxing structure wholly inequitable and we urge the legislature to analyze and reverse its inequitable impact on West Hartford. By way of highlighting the inequities of the ad valorem taxing structure with respect to the Niagara deal, West Hartford – which already bears a disproportionate share of MDC’s cost, is now mandated to subsidize both the Town of Bloomfield (who has offered Niagara a tax abatement) and Niagara (who is provided a rate discount). The residents of West Hartford deserve better.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of the issues raised herein. Please contact us should you have interest in discussing this matter further.

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