When I received my latest water district “newsletter”, the message was clear.  The landed aristocracy had no intention of giving up its little fiefdoms without a fight.  The front page was all about how the evil state and county governments were trying to destroy our water, and how our local water district commissioners were fighting for us.  This newsletter, of course, was done on the ratepayer’s dime.

As Anne Michaud reports on Viewsday, the special districts have joined together to hire a point man to lead the fight:

Dear Special District Official:

These are challenging times for special districts throughout New York State. Prosecutors, high elected state officials and overly energetic politicians, are jockeying for promotion by singling out the operations of special districts in an attempt to paint them as greedy, mismanaged and out of control.

It was with those concerns in mind that we have created the SPECIAL DISTRICT ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK STATE INC. as a way of defending what we do; our functions and how we police ourselves to guaranty that the public gets the fullest range of services.

Just about any group that renders services to the public has a group representing it. Whether its libraries, volunteer firemen, water providers or countless other organizations they are there to speak up for their members.

The mouthpiece is “Arthur “Jerry” Kremer, president. Kremer is a former member of the Assembly, who chaired its Ways and Means Committee and now works as a registered lobbyist.”

It might be viewed as ironic that the issue with special districts is their cost to the tax and ratepayers, and that the fight for their preservation will be similarly at public expense.    Jerry’s letter concludes:

The time is now to protect the special districts of New York State from headline seeking politicians who wish to undermine our every day service to the people of this state.

After all, the special district people aren’t seeking headlines.  They do it for cash and prizes.

Anne’s post breaks clean of the Viewsday approach of “take no positions” and makes a clear statement:

Anyone who’s been following this story knows that several of Nassau County’s top elected officials are critical of special districts and would like to see them consolidated. Not only do they waste money by providing overlapping services — in trash disposal, for example — but they also operate outside of public scrutiny. This has allowed them to run wild.

Some special districts pay meter readers $93,000 a year. Others provide full, free health benefits for board members — boards elsewhere in New York State are staffed by volunteers. Some districts hold meeting after meeting, so that the board can rack up $20,000 in per-diem charges for unnecessary conferencing. At the Water Authority of Great Neck North, the board approved a big-screen television, gas and insurance for vehicles, and even a home for its paid staff. These people are living large — at taxpayer expense.

It’s not necessarily the concept of special districts that presents the problem, but their greedy, hidden and frequently unlawful execution of their duties.  Hiring Jerry Kramer to try to run a counter-smear campaign may just be the move that makes the public recognize how ridiculous this has all become.  Then again, with so many issues and so little interest, who knows.

In any event, it’s gratifying to see Anne’s blog post, and to see Viewsday begin to his its stride.  Let’s hope they keep it up.