“The proposed increase is unconscionable and a clear violation of the lease,” said Mayor Ray O’Connell. “The City understands LCA has considerable financial obligations to its creditors and bondholders, but it cannot endeavor to satisfy those obligations by milking families of modest means in Allentown. The lease was designed to provide a fair return to LCA from users of the water and sewer systems, but also to protect citizens of the City by strictly limiting permitted rate increases.”
The city is seeking an injunction to stop LCA from implementing monthly billing which it intends to do in August.
Among other things, the lease calls for the Authority to set an annual rate that must be in effect for the calendar year. The lease also requires rates to be reasonable. The city contends that a 107 percent increase on top of the maximum rate increase that was already imposed is a clear violation.
O'Connell should have read the rate plan before he voted for the LCA deal.
ReplyDeleteCouncil turned a $200 million pension problem into a $750 million water problem (the cost of LCA ratepayers paying off the borrowing to acquire the system). This was obviously destined to harm resident ratepayers as the caps loosened the further you got away from the signing of the deal (by design, giving time for many of those responsible - Pawlowski, Schweyer, etc.) to move on.
Allentown residents will soon look back on this increase, and remember it as "the good ole days".
Old Ray is one of the good old boys of Allentown. Time for a big change.
ReplyDeleteAuthorities are inherently evil. They outlive their usefullness quickly and become monstrous entities with a thirst for ever more power. What has been created by a city/town.. can and should be desolved as soon as possible. Power to the people.
ReplyDeleteWe need Fed Ed back as he will save us!
ReplyDeleteEd is my friend.
ReplyDeleteAnother incompetent lackey in Allentown city government. You get that when the politicians pander to the lowest common denominator of voter.
ReplyDeleteIn a recent post about O'Connell touting summer meals for low-income children, I reminded the mayor of this LCA money-grab. Bernie called my admittedly off-topic jab as evidence I did not care about hungry children. The two issues are not exclusive. The same family struggling to feed children in the absence of school lunches is being asked to pay $150-plus extra a year in water fees to bathe those children. Good to see the city follow up on this horrible LCA tactic.
ReplyDeleteOh please.... the low life’s that can’t feed their children aren’t paying for their water either. That’s the guvments job. Just ask them they’ll be standing in the free cheese line!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the new pricing compares to folks cell, cable or cigarette bills?
ReplyDeleteWhatever Alan Jennings supports.
ReplyDelete**********
2:46 and 1:55 are examples of the hatred normalized by Trump toward the working poor who live in "shithole" Allentown.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the new pricing compares to folks cell, cable or cigarette bills?
ReplyDeleteThose are all options. Flushing a toilet, cooking or human consumption is NOT AN OPTION!
Fed Ed is my friend.
ReplyDeleteI’m loyal.
It’s OK.
Where is Fed Ed this summer,doing squats at a gym ?.
ReplyDeleteDid Mayor Ray support this train wreck?
ReplyDeleteAbout a year ago Fed Ed was spotted working out in a West Allentown Gym with a Democratic Committee member
ReplyDelete"giving time for many of those responsible - Pawlowski, Schweyer, etc.) to move on."
ReplyDeleteSchweyer??? Come on now. That's ridiculous. The person whose hand prints are all over this bad deal is none other than former County Executive and former Cunningham administration staffer Tom Muller. His role in this needs to be called out.
I have stated this here before, statistics of fecal matter and other inorganic solids can and will be faked! This injunction is in breech of contract by both parties to this lease and than there is no mention of the fed imposed for the rain falling from the sky in this over 100% cost increase¡ This pension CURE has about the same order as the water, because in council the memo is on the go again. Officials have seen no statements as to wheather all the monies went to the appropreate bills this powerpoint soul sale sectorz it was destined for when pandered as the only way out?
ReplyDeleteAGAIN, What We Drinkin¿¡)$
republican redd
humanist by design
not a party favor
I have an opinion on this. Since the LCA deal, my water Bill in Upper Mac has jumped from $28 a quarter, or about $120 a year to over $70 a quarter, and close to $300 a year. So Why should those customers in Allentown not have to pay the increase? I already subsidize Lower Mac's police protection, what the hell, I might as well help City Residents out with something as well.
ReplyDeleteThis was another King Pawlowski failure. However, the limp wrist council approved this. The voters of Allentown deserve this. Let the Syrians and ill-informed pay for this.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:15 apparently serial pension chaser Muller is still working for O'Connell even though he was handpicked by Fed ED.
ReplyDeleteBernie, the LCA uses there co-conspiritorz bottled water for the EPA's unbiased solid parts per million data collected!
ReplyDeleteDon't Drink The Water nor bath in it?
Anonymous 7:51 said...
ReplyDeleteDid Mayor Ray support this train wreck?
Yes, he voted for the LCA deal as a councilman. He also supported raising the earned income tax for residents all three times that Pawlowski proposed it. The three increases brought the earned income tax to twice the original amount (to almost 2%).
That increase in earned income tax was much steeper and much more costly to working families in Allentown than the proposed LCA increases. But somehow the EIT increase wasn't "unconscionable" to O'Connell.
Anon 9:15 said:
ReplyDelete"The person whose hand prints are all over this bad deal is none other than former County Executive and former Cunningham administration staffer Tom Muller."
You're certainly right. If, as another comment hinted at, Muller is working in Allentown City Hall, O'Connell should resign.
I’m a single Allentown resident whose bill went from $56.00 a quarter to over $100.00 since the LCA took over. Anybody who thinks Allentown residents aren’t paying their fair share are misinformed. My water isn’t drinkable so I have to spend an additional $50.00 a quarter for potable water. The water out of the tap tastes like burned plastic and isn’t safe to drink nor cook with, just my opion of course.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see which towns get the little Lehigh river water for their drinking water. Metric tons of untreated sewage gets “released” into a river which supplies drinking water to the undesirables. I’m sure Nestle and like aren’t getting sewage water but people faced with an increase are. How about the LCA provide spring water to my house and not from a sewer . I’d be happy to pay the increase. I’m going to pay the $500.00 charge to have my water tested by a university. The LCA doesnt mention who tests their water and from which source. I will post my results
ReplyDelete