County weighs leasing the sewer system

Facing a $3 billion debt, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano recently announced his intent to pursue a public-private partnership to operate and maintain the county’s three sewage treatment plants. At a news conference in Mineola on Thursday, Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, said the transaction would earn the county $750 million, alleviating 25 percent of Nassau’s debt –– the highest of any county in New York.

The county’s plants — the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, the Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant in Wantagh and the Glen Cove Sewage Treatment Plant — are in a state of disrepair, and according to Mangano, are headed into bankruptcy by 2014.

"It's time to pay down this debt and take it off the back of our children, to protect our taxpayers and our environment,” said Mangano.

Through a request-for-proposal committee, Mangano said, New Jersey-based United Water Services, Inc. was chosen among four respondents to operate and maintain the plants.

Despite reports in other publications, details of the partnership have not been released, according to Rich Henning, senior vice president of communications for United Water, because there is no contract yet. “It's envisioned that this will be a long-term agreement,” Henning told the Herald. “When you're retiring as much debt as the county will be retiring, you want to do that over a number of years so that you can make it financially feasible."

According to Mangano, a contract may be reached “by the end of the summer,” at which time the county would seek a third-party financer through an RFP, which would enter into a long-term contract with the both the county and the sewer operator. “It's contemplated [the contract] could be 30, 40 or more years,” said the county executive, adding that the official changeover would occur near the start of 2013.

According to the county executive, the sewer system accounts for roughly $465 million of the county’s debt.

Mangano said that the transaction would not affect taxes, adding that he would cap United Water’s “ability to pass costs on the county” through rate increases.