Letter: Water purchase has been studied

As a previous treasurer of the Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County, in 1991, I hope that the current authority will have more success in considering a municipal takeover of Aqua New York than we did ["Towns mull buying water company," News, Jan. 12].

Our board members spent several years studying this issue, and even with a lower purchase price than currently available, we could find no way to reduce the cost of water to the 46,000 customers without eliminating the PILOTs -- payments in lieu of taxes -- to the local school districts.

When customers learned that their property taxes would increase because the PILOTs were eliminated to lower the cost of water, they would attend the public meetings, after being organized by school superintendents, and shout us down.

I suggested that the company be split into the portion in the Town of Hempstead (about 80 percent of the customers) and the part in the Town of Oyster Bay. I recommended that Suffolk Water Authority take over the Oyster Bay portion and the Hempstead portion be taken over by a municipal water company such as East Meadow's.

This would be the best way to proceed, because Suffolk Water could phase out the PILOTs without any Nassau County politicians suffering the consequences.

This plan will work and save a lot of time and money. There is no reason why the company should not be split in two.

Robert Ackerberg, Massapequa