Archive: Opinions

Wow.

Elisabeth Hegarty really nailed all the anti-sewer points from the last Lansing sewer fiasco.

Elisabeth, thank you. Thanks for highlighting that the folks who want the sewer are likely not even living in the proposed district, including some of our town board members.

Thanks for reminding us all that it costs the homeowner upwards of $10,000 to retire a septic tank, hook into a new sewer system and then pay the first year tax...which was proposed in 2008 to start at $800 per EDU per year and escalate every year past that for over 15 or more years.

Of course, there is always the corporate argument (echoed by the Editor of the Lansing Star) in support of the sewer...that it will bring more development which is viewed as always 'good for the community' because somehow it will magically lower homeowner property taxes.

I challenge the Editor of the Lansing Star and the developers that will get taxpayer-funded tax breaks to develop the new taxpayer-acquired land across from the ball fields...to cite specific instances where development in the Town of Lansing or anywhere in Tompkins County actually lowered taxes for homeowners.

I patiently await the mountain of factual evidence that irrevocably proves the theorem: Taxpayer Funded Sewer + Taxpayer Subsidized Development = Lower Taxes for Lansing Residents.

Are those "lower taxes" calculated after or before we paid the state for the land? Before or after we give developers tax breaks? Before or after the $10,000 per home sewer hook-up costs?

I can comfortably state that whether Elisabeth or I find ourselves in the currently proposed sewer district or not, I will seek her out along with other like-minded Lansing residents to resist any attempt to thrust a sewer onto Lansing taxpayers.

Might I suggest that if developers want a sewer, they pay for it, including installation and lifetime maintenance. This arrangement was reported numerous times in the Lansing Star when the sewer was installed along Warren Road to support Transonic and Lucente. Only property owners within the district or those that want to join it pay for the sewer AT NO COST TO THE LANSING TAXPAYERS.

I feel another silly season is upon us, with a new batch of town board members and salivating developers that need to learn the Town of Lansing sewer lesson all over again.

Hugh Bahar
Lansing, NY

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