Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: April 16, 2022
Silver Lining
To the Editor:
Following two years of living in unprecedented times, several Shelter Island residents have lost over $250,000 through the proliferation of phone and email scams. This total represents the entirety of a few residents’ life savings.
The Shelter Island Action Alliance, in cooperation with the Shelter Island Lions Club and Mullen Motors, is pleased to provide an avenue and a silver lining to help restore hope and monetary savings for those affected by catastrophic fraud.
Thanks to the extreme generosity of Mullen Motors in Southold, we will be raffling off a brand new, 2021 Jeep Cherokee. A total of only 2,400 tickets will be sold at $100 each and the drawing will take place on Dec. 23, 2022.
To learn more, please visit shelterislandlions.org or email [email protected].
There is a reason that so many of us feel so lucky to call Shelter Island home — it is the people who live here, coming together to help one another. It is what we do.
BRETT SURERUS,
ALEX GRAHAM, CARLA KEERANS Program Administrators, Shelter Island Action Alliance
Calculations
To the Editor:
Regarding the pending water management agreement between the Town and The Suffolk County Water Authority (“Outside Water Entity On The Way,” April 7), as soon as the Town executes the agreement, the Town is bound to a 40-year liability.
Whether this is a good deal or not for West Neck Water District customers, the liability affects the balance sheet of the Town. Accounting standards suggest that in the event numbers are not yet available to book the asset and the liability at the lower of the fair value of the asset and the present value of the minimum payments (discounted at the interest rate implicit in the agreement, if practical, or at the Town’s incremental borrowing rate), a footnote disclosure would be appropriate.
As I am sure the Village of Dering Harbor is preparing its present value calculation for the audit report, it would be interesting to compare the two calculations.
JOHN T. COLBY JR., Shelter Island
Control of our water
To the Editor:
The final draft of the West Neck Water-Suffolk County Water Authority (WNW-SCWA) lease agreement was posted on the Town website around April 6, without any notice to WNW customers or the public, giving only until April 18 for comment. Worse still, the draft still raises concerns and leaves many questions unanswered. Both WNW customers, whose water bills will substantially increase, and other Islanders concerned about water, should be wary.
First, what authority will the Town retain regarding use of the aquifer remains unclear. It must be consulted, but the Town has no authority to limit the expansion of SCWA’s system or its ability to drill wells on town land. The WNW Rules do not allow irrigation and prohibit selling our water. The applicable SCWA Rules show rates for filling water trucks at $4,000 per truck without any of the money going back to WNW/the Town. Removing WNW’s Rules without specifically allowing the Town to impose conservation restrictions would frustrate the goal of preserving our water.
Second, there are many extra charges in the SCWA Rules. Assurances were given by the Town Board liaison that none of those costs apply to the WNW customers, but the charges remain in the addendum to the agreement.
Third, it is unclear whether Federal, State or Town (WQI) grant money is really being pursued. We were told they would address this possibility in the agreement, but this has not been done. In Southampton, improvements were largely funded by grants and the rest was paid from its WQIP account. Our Town Board should work as hard to help the WNW customers as Southampton’s did for their residents.
Fourth, the impact of this agreement Island-wide must at least be understood by the public. The agreement allows the use of Town land and expansion outside of WNW district.
Lastly, other than requiring that limited notices be made, the agreement does not provide the WNW Board or the Town with any meaningful oversight of SCWA on behalf of the customers or Islanders outside the district.
LORI BEARD RAYMOND, Shelter Island
