Water takeover a slippery slope

MOORESVILLE – It’s commendable that the Mooresville Town Council is concerned about the residents of the town and how much they pay for their water and utilities. We are happy that they want to make sure residents get the best prices for these services. However, the reasoning presented thus far for wanting to take over the water system from Indiana American Water Company seems inadequate and ill-conceived.

The town is presenting itself as wanting to keep prices low and make the system more efficient. This flies in the face of what other communities have been experiencing. Just down the road in Martinsville, the water system has become a political football. Through the years, mayors and councils declined to raise rates for years so they could get reelected. Then residents had a huge shock when the rates were tripled and quadrupled recently.

Running a water utility isn’t something that happens overnight and it isn’t cheap. There must be money in it or Indiana American Water wouldn’t be in business, but being a large multi-state organization allows them to have expertise and to spread costs out.If the town forces the company to sell the water system, they will be on the hook for the fair market value of the infrastructure as well as the legal bills for any challenges IAWC might mount. That will put them at a disadvantage from the beginning.

The nature of this attempt at eminent domain is also perplexing. It seemed to come suddenly and out of left field. Yes, it comes on the heels of a rate increase that was approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. But there was little public input at the public hearing on Aug. 7 allowed by the town and the company was not allowed to speak at the meeting.

We hope that as this process plays out, the town gives much more opportunity for public discourse. We hope their minds are not made up and that this is a process rather than a railroad running straight toward eminent domain. Most of all, we hope that if this goes through, they have a plan prepared to actually keep rates low without risking water quality.

There are two groups that we, as Americans, have come to distrust in the last few years — big business and government. So, when the two decide to fight it out, many of us line up to take sides, but ultimately the only losers will be the taxpayers or ratepayers in either case. We urge the town to tread lightly as they look at this eminent domain proposal.

Published August 15th, 2012 in The Mooresville-Decatur Times