Statement by Peter VanAvery, Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, at October 22 Public Comment Meeting on Proposed Access Permit fee Increase
My name is Peter VanAvery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee. I have been a seasonal resident of Edinburg for more than a half-century.
Point one: We don't trust the Regulating District's numbers. We want the Office of the State Comptroller to inspect its budget. We want assurance that the numbers are legitimate. We want assurance that the District is squeezing every dollar. We want assurance that competitive bidding practices are being followed.
Second, the District has withdrawn the 2003-2006 budget it approved this past June. When the new version appears, we are going to look especially hard at the fee that Erie Boulevard Hydropower is charged for use of the lake's water. Our organization was the first to reveal that the District initially proposed to cut Erie's bill by 10 percent at the same time it wanted to boost our access permit fees by 500-1000 percent. Let me make this clear. If a $12 billion a year energy company receives a decrease, we demand equal treatment. If we don't get it, the Governor will hear from us.
Third, a few weeks ago, the Regulating District posted a new study on its web site that's dynamite. It argues that the District has statutory authority to assess the cost of operation of Great Sacandaga Lake "upon any parcel of real estate benefited." In the past, this has encompassed only downstream beneficiaries, like the City of Albany. But this new study recommends that lake-area property also be included ... because it sells at a premium thanks to the existence of the lake. To that end, the study advises the District to hire appraisers to calculate the lake's impact on the dollar value of your property and mine. Then, we'd be hit with two annual bills: an access permit fee plus an assessment on the value added to our property.
We need to defuse this time bomb right now. Accordingly, we demand that the Regulating District affirm that access permit holders are not now, nor will ever be, "taxed" as beneficiaries of the lake. We also demand that reference to us be expunged from the above study.
Fourth and last, we don't want to be subject to the Regulating District's whims any longer. We want the District to make access permits permanent, and we want those permits to be transferable from one property owner to another. We don't care how the District brings this about ... whether by selling the state-owned buffer zone to us or by some other means. Since the buffer zone is part of the forever-wild forest preserve, overcoming the legal hurdles will require patience and persistence. But we have those aplenty, and we will keep pressure on the District until it happens.