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Mostly Cloudy Hempstead, Oyster Bay seek new water authority
Supervisors want to investigate possible takeover of Aqua company locally
Updated: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2:31 p.m.
Following county Legislator Dave Denenberg's recent call for the creation of a public water district for southeastern Nassau, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray said on Monday that Hempstead and the Town of Oyster Bay had appointed a task force to pursue the reactivation of the dormant Southeastern Nassau County Water Authority, with the goal of reducing water rates for local residents.
The announcement came at a news conference at the Hempstead Water Department in East Meadow, with Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Jon Venditto at Murray's side.
The authority would examine the possible local takeover of Aqua America Inc., a private utility that provides water to Bellmore-Merrick under the name Aqua New York.
The authority, created under the New York Public Authority Law of 1991, allowed for the creation of a special board of directors to evaluate the possibility of a public water district for the area. At a meeting at the Brookside School on Jan. 7, Denenberg said, "The whole purpose of that public-benefit corporation was to analyze, investigate and evaluate the takeover of the entire area within southeast Nassau that was serviced by New York Water Service Corporation, which is now Aqua."
The town's new task force will begin its work by investigating whether the water authority is still in effect. "We're creating a task force ... to study a public takeover of a private water company," Murray said. "We may need new state legislation, enabling legislation, to re-establish the Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County. It gets a little fuzzy."
She noted that if legislation is required, both Hempstead and Oyster Bay would push for a water authority similar to one in place throughout much of the 1990s. A July 2007 report by then Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman stated that members of that authority's board of directors voted to stop a public acquisition of New York Water in 1997.
Murray, a Republican from Levittown, and Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, both said it is unclear whether the old enabling legislation is still in place. Both said they are seeking lower water rates.
