| Sometimes, if you're patient enough, the truth will emerge from unexpected sources. So it was at the Oct. 1 Longmeadow Select Board meeting when the chairman, Hal Haberman, expressed his surprise and shock at the large increase he received in his water bill. Wasn't it Haberman who issued our new water/sewer rates? Wasn't it that rate card that said the average user would pay approximately 15 percent more than the old rate? Didn't Haberman do the math? Or did he just accept figures given to him by is associates without verification? How can he be surprised? What Mr. Haberman apparently just learned I have been trying to tell him and the public through my letters to the editors. The Board will not give us the platform to discuss this situation. Mr. Haberman, after he said he cut his own water usage by about 20 percent, finds himself with over a 50 percent increase than prior years. If Haberman was blindsided, what about the rest of us? This leads to the question, who really set this new program in motion that surprised Haberman? How was it arrived at and who reviewed the details? It's easy for an outside consultant group to advise raising rates to increase revenue. Did we really pay $22,000 for that advice? Who on our Select Board has experience with this type of business? C'mon, Hal, let's sit down and talk about this abomination. Sam Altman Longmeadow |
