How Much of an Increase?

The Hazardville Water Company has submitted a request through the Connecticut DPUC for an 18.4% rate increase for it’s customers. This is absurd. In an economy in which people are being laid off, having their hours reduced, getting pay freezes and cutting back on items such as groceries, an increase of this magnitude is ridiculous.

While I don’t disparage HWC for wanting to make a profit, the timing of this rate increase is terrible. Add to that the fact they have admitted that they will be seeking a further 5-6% increase in 2010, something does not smell right. We have already been told that our electricity rates will “liely skyrocket” if the cap and tax bill is passed; the state is in a fiscal mess, likely resulting in tax increases, and if government healthcare gets passed, it is likely that instead of 95% of Americans not seeing a tax increase, 95% of Americans WILL see a tax increase.

The fact of the matter is that residents, especially those on fixed incomes simply cannot afford a rate hike of this magnitude. It may not seem like a lot of money on it’s face (funny, they always talk about the “average” homeowner), but for some people, any increase is enough to tip the scales the wrong way.

I am hopeful that the DPUC either denies this request completely or puts it at a more manageable percentage.

Regional Cooperation

On August 7, I had the opportunity to ride with Sgt. Charles Grasso of the Enfield PD. He was participating in a METRO traffic detail being conducted in the Town of Windsor. This was another in a series of “DWI” roadblocks being conducted by this regional team. METRO is a joint collaboration between the police departments in Enfield, East Windsor, Windsor Locks, Windsor, South Windsor, Manchester, and Coventry. This team also has an Accident Reconstruction Team as part of their services.

I have been told from my sources that there are some members of the Enfield town council who question the need for such an alliance. I find their questions short-sighted and in some cases self-serving. When the Enfield Police Department conducted a survey of customer service, the largest complaint that they received was that of traffic violations. As a former police officer, I can attest that one of the more frequent complaints that I received as a shift commander was that of speeding vehicles.

If one was to look at the current manpower of the Enfield PD, along with the activity, the ability to provide on-going traffic enforcement without impacting the number of officers on the road available to respond to calls is problematic. In order to provide the level of enforcement that is available by using the METRO traffic team, it would cost a tremendous amount of overtime. In this economic climate, that is simply too much to ask of our current police administration.

That brings me to the current town council. Apparently, one of the council members wives was recently “delayed” in a traffic situation reportedly caused by one of these DWI roadblocks. As someone who has worked on these details previously, I can tell you that if traffic becomes an issue, the officers assigned to the roadblock are told to “free-flow” the traffic in order to relieve the congestion. So, my guess is that this particular councilman’s wife was maybe delayed by two or three minutes, hardly a large inconvenience. It is this town councilman who is now questioning the need for us to have out of town officers assisting Enfield  police officers with these details. This is short-sighted.

If one is to check the accident statistics for the Town of Enfield, since the inception of the METRO program, serious accidents have been reduced substantially. This is a testament to the effectiveness of having increased enforcement of traffic laws.

One would think that the town council would be doing handstands over the effectiveness of having accidents reduced as opposed to being concerned about self-serving interests. Apparently some are less than thrilled, and that is scary.