Politics & Government

Letter to the Editor: Shoreline Businessman Says Contingency Costs Were Figured Into SPU Acquistion

Tables on home and commercial water rates tell the story that Shoreline's west side pays more for water than its neighbors

To the editor:

I am one of those 23 people who participated in the SPU Steering Committee meetings. I listened and joined in on hours of education, discussion and research about the negotiations for purchase of the SPU, the capabilities and deficiencies of our Shoreline water system, the rates we pay, the cost of acquisition, improvement costs, and on-going maintenance and operational costs.

We discussed various scenarios including interest rates for bonds, inflation, deflation, droughts, earthquakes, floods, wholesale water rates and the effect of these events on rates that Shoreline residents will pay. Contingency costs were built into the base models and we requested additional contingencies to be added. We read volumes of research from engineers and financial analysts and 21 of us concluded that this is good deal for Shoreline.

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I am a businessman. Numbers talk to me. These tables (attached) were produced by the Shoreline financial analysts on our home and commercial water rates.

It is pretty easy to see that we can’t keep paying twice as much for our water at home as our neighbors in Edmonds. Our city has come up with a plan. We’ve done our due diligence. Seattle agrees. Let’s just get it done!

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For additional information go to: http://www.localcontrolforshoreline.org/

Bill Montero


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