OUR VIEW: Sharpsville water meeting should draw overflow crowd

The Herald

Fri, May 16 2008

— Speak now or forever hold your peace. That’s pretty much the offer for residents of the borough of Sharpsville.
Perhaps the biggest decision in the history of the borough might be determined by the citizenry Tuesday night at a special meeting to air pros and cons of building a new water plant. Borough council has set up the meeting for 7 p.m. at Sharpsville Area High School to hear the feelings of residents about the new plant, which would cost in the neighborhood of $10 million.
The moves concerning the plant have been pretty much a comedy of errors for the last few years. We believe that the biggest error was a vote by Sharpsville residents to turn down a $7 million offer from Aqua Pennsylvania to buy the water system.
Residents could have been led astray by speculation that grants could be obtained to cover much of the cost for a new plant, which hasn’t been the case. In addition, at the time of their vote, the estimate to build the plant was $4 million.
But that’s water over the dam. Council must deal with the realities of today.
Aqua has withdrawn its purchase offer, and council has been favoring construction of a modern plant. While trying to determine how to handle its water problem, council has heard little from borough residents. The biggest mistake Sharpsville taxpayers could make would be not attending Tuesday’s meeting and expressing their views.
After all, council is thinking about taking out a 40-year loan or bond debt to pay for the plant. That means that the $10 million plant would cost the people far more than that when interest is included.
A huge uncertainty is swirling in South Pymatuning Township, which has a long-term contract to share water costs with the borough. The township has railed against the building of a plant and has threatened legal action to determine the validity of the contract.
Regardless of the outcome of any legal action by South Py, would a major plant like Dean Dairy, which uses a lot of water, become a distribution facility only, as some have speculated? How badly would a water-rate increase affect small businesses, like restaurants and others that dot the streets of the town?
Some say that the average water bill would increase between $8 and $12 a month. Councilman Guy Moderelli, an opponent of building the plant, has suggested that they will be much higher. He’s warning residents to “hold onto your wallets, Sharpsville’s going to become a very expensive place to live.”
If a lack of funding prohibits the building of a plant, what are the alternatives? An attempt to re-sell to Aqua? Buying bulk water from Aqua? In many ways, it seems like the only thing certain about the solution to the water woes is that nothing is certain at all.
These are legitimate questions that borough residents need to ask at Tuesday’s meeting. The borough is faced with making a tough decision with a lasting effect on generations to come.
Input from the folks footing the bill might be a good idea.