The Post-Standard News
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Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)
April 6, 2004
VOTE ALLOWS HOMES ON OTISCO LAKE TO USE WATER FROM METROPOLITAN WATER BOARD. Teri Weaver Staff writer
About 100 homes along the northwestern part of Otisco Lake will be able to hook into Onondaga County's water system, county legislators decided Monday.
In a 16-1 vote, the legislators allowed 103 homes in Spafford to use the pipes and infrastructure controlled by the Metropolitan Water Board. The residents will have to pay an extra $20 a year to use the system, in addition to paying for normal upkeep and debt charges that most other county residents pay toward the water system, said David Fitch, director of the water board. Four decades ago, Spafford and Skaneateles successfully fought to be excluded from paying for a major pipeline to bring water from Lake Ontario to Onondaga County. Meanwhile, other residents throughout the county have had to pay for that $22 million project, plus other improvements, through the years, even if they get no water through the system.
"The theory was ... there was a benefit to everyone in the county for an abundant source of water," Fitch said Monday before the vote.
So to some legislators, Spafford's request to join now seemed unfair.
"It's grossly unfair that I have people in my district who've been paying for water for 30 years who won't get a drop," said Legislator Terry Pickard, R-Fayetteville.
Pickard was the only legislator who voted no.
Legislator James Murphy, R-Skaneateles, sponsored the legislation and argued the Spafford residents should be considered because county and state health officials are forcing them to hook into a municipal water system. Murphy and Chairman Dale Sweetland, R-Fabius, were absent for the vote.
In other business, legislators agreed to move their regular session meetings to the first Tuesday of each month. The change will begin in July. Copyright, 2004, The Herald Company |
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