TO: Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Members
FROM: Peter VanAvery
DATE: April 9, 2004
If you have not checked out the status of your dock, wood steps, and other assets on your beach, time may be running short. The lake's surface is currently heading toward 759 feet above sea level, which means that it already has risen more than halfway back to "full" (768). The level hit 748, the minimum drawdown target, on March 23 and began to head back up around midnight on March 26. In the first seven days, the lake rose an astounding seven feet! With the arrival of cooler weather, the curve has tapered off. But don't count on the fact that snow cover was substantially below normal this past winter. Mother Nature may still swamp us with heavy spring rains.
Unfortunately, some of our neighbors may find that their beach assets have disappeared, carried off by the excessively high water we experienced from November to January, when the lake's level exceeded 768 for 52 days in a row. Others may find them smashed by the ice. I got off fairly lightly. My dock is secured by quarter-inch-diameter wire cables that run from eyebolts to trees on the shoreline. The ice snapped the cable on the left side. On the right side, the cable held, but ripped off the 2 x 6 board to which it is attached. I spent yesterday afternoon putting it back together. Because the dock's frame had sprung, I had to use the jack from my car to force everything back in place. If your private property suffered damage, please participate in our Damage Survey -- see below.
The Regulating District's board met in Utica on April 5, and you will soon find press coverage posted on our web site: www.nybbac.org. Although I was not able to attend, I invoked the Freedom of Information Law to obtain copies of the budget proposal that was handed out. Here are some meeting highlights:
• On March 1, NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi dispatched a team of auditors to the Regulating District's Albany office for what was supposed to be a one-month examination of the District's accounting, budgeting, and governance practices. The good news is that they are still at it.
• Now let's tackle the budget process. Keep in mind that the District's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. Last fall, the District revealed a three-year budget covering FY2003/04, FY2004/05, and FY2005/06. For each of those three years, the District proposed to collect $2 million from access permit fees -- about a $1.6 million jump over actual access permit fee revenues of $443,000 in FY2002/03. When public outrage made them back down, a gaping hole was left in the District's budget.
For FY2003/04 and FY2004/05, the District has frozen access permit fees at roughly FY2002/03 levels. In the meantime, it plans to fund an "independent performance audit" to determine how much it actually costs to run the access permit system. Then, for FY2005/06, access permit holders would be assessed 80 percent of that actual cost. This could result in a substantial hike in access permit fees.
But whose definition of "independent" is the District going to use? As we have seen on Wall Street (think Enron), a so-called independent audit can reflect the biases of the sponsor, especially if the firm conducting the audit expects to gain further business from that particular sponsor. Accordingly, I have recommended to the District that the firm selected to conduct the "independent performance audit" be required to sign a pledge that it will not seek additional state contracts for a period of two years. That would clearly establish its independence. Otherwise, its conclusions could be questionable. The District will soon run an advertisement calling for proposals from interested auditing firms. The wording will tell us plenty.
If we are indeed hit with a sizable jump in access permit fees in FY2005/06, here's something to keep in mind. In FY2002/03, Erie Boulevard Hydropower, a division of Reliant Resources, had to pay the District $1,065,219 for use of the reservoir's water to spin its turbines at the Conklingville Dam. For FY2005/06, the District proposes to charge Erie only $850,000 -- a 20 percent reduction!
To help fill the budget gap for FY2004/05, the District proposes to increase the assessment on downstream beneficiaries by 28 percent. Most of the revenues from that assessment come from two heavy hitters -- Niagara Mohawk and Reliant Resources -- which say they already are being overcharged and are suing for huge refunds. Who is kidding whom on this? I'll send a letter to Comptroller Hevesi to see if he can figure it out.
Some property owners in Sacandaga Park in the Town of Northampton have formed an organization called Sacandaga Park Area Residents for Responsible Development (SPARRD). They oppose a proposal by Lanzi Brothers, Inc., to build 14 condominium units within five buildings on land along the lake's shoreline. The property is on County Highway 152, adjacent to the Sport Island Pub. Luigi Lanzi, the company's president, told Leader-Herald reporter Scott Donnelly: "All of the condos are right on the water, each with a two-car garage and decks overlooking the lake. They're going to be the class of the lake. They're going to be upscale, with prices in the $300,000 range." (This quote and the following ones are from an April 3 Leader-Herald story.)
Sacandaga Park is an historic hamlet. Developed by the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad after it expanded its northern line to Northville in 1875, the 75-acre park reigned as the "Gem of the Adirondacks" until 1930 when it was practically wiped out by the creation of the reservoir. Both SPARRD and the Sacandaga Park Civic Association don't want to see new structures that clash with the hamlet's unique architectural heritage. Said park resident Andrew Cordone: "It's wrecking the feel of the Sacandaga Park. We don't want condos. We'd rather see individual camps." SPARRD also has expressed concerns about increased traffic flow and additional pressure on what it says is an antiquated water and sewer system.
Northampton Town Supervisor Ted Collins claims that taxpayers will benefit from the Lanzi project. "Anything that adds to the tax base helps the taxpayers," he said. Meanwhile, SPARRD charges that the town is trying to ram the project through planning and zoning approvals before seasonal residents return. The Planning Board will review the condo plan at a special meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 12, at Northville Central School. The Zoning Board of Appeals has scheduled its hearing on the project for 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, in the Northville Firehouse. Interested persons also may submit comments to the ZBA by writing Amanda Frasier, Chairperson, Zoning Board of Appeals, Town of Northampton, P.O. Box 479, Northville, NY 12134. If you have any questions, please contact SPARRD member Leo Boland at leo@leoboland.com.
If your private property -- your dock, wood steps, boat, etc. -- suffered damage from Great Sacandaga Lake's excessively high water levels last year, please be sure to report the estimated or actual cost of repairs on the BBAC's Damage Survey. The first high-water episode took place from April to June 2003, when the water level exceeded 768, the point at which the reservoir is considered full, for 59 days in a row. The second high-water episode occurred from November 2003 until January 2004, when the lake's level exceeded 768 for 52 days in a row. The survey takes about two minutes to complete.