Morgan Stanley to Broker Nassau Sewer Deal
According to reports, Nassau County is planning to sign a contract with Morgan Stanley that will pay the financial service firm at least $5 million to broker a deal for the county to privatize its sewage treatment system.
The Associated Press reports that Morgan Stanley would broker the deal with a private operator and an investor who would fund the transaction.
According to Newsday [paid link]:
County documents show the public-private partnership proposed by GOP County Executive Edward Mangano could net Nassau $865 million -- more than half to be used to retire debt on the system.
The Nassau Legislature's Rules Committee is set to vote on the contract this Monday. The vote will more than likely come down to party lines, as Newsday reports that the Democrats will vote against the contract. The Republicans hold the majority in the legislature.
The Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) would also have to approve the contract.
Madonna Taking Over Coliseum to Prep for World Tour
Madonna will be taking over the Nassau Coliseum starting next week to build a stage and set for her upcoming world tour, according to reports.
Madonna and her team will occupy the Coliseum until late May, a source told Newsday [paid link]. While the superstar will be rehearsing in Uniondale, there are no plans for her to perform publicly at the arena.
The Philadelphia-based management company SMG runs the Coliseum. According to Newsday:
Cash-strapped Nassau County, which owns the Coliseum but does not collect revenue directly from arena shows, will not receive any funds from the Madonna contract. Revenue will go to an entity controlled by SMG. Charles Wang, owner of the Coliseum's major tenant, the New York Islanders hockey team, participates in the arrangement, the source said.
Private Sector Job Fair Announced
Mangano has announced that Nassau County will sponsor a private sector job fair on Tuesday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City. Employers from across Long Island will be seeking candidates for all positions, including entry and management level, licensed professionals, and technicians. There is no charge for admission and parking is free.
First Annual Safety Fair for Families Announced
Mangano and the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) have announced the First Annual Safety Fair for Families set to take place April 28-29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Wantagh Park, located at 1 King Road in Wantagh. The safety fair is free to the public and will feature family fun, giveaways and free raffles.
He has nothing else to do latrly unless he wants to watch the Rangers and Devils compete for the Stanley Cup. How any Islanders fan puts up with that shyster is beyond me. The fans should all boycott the Coliseum until Wang sells it to someone with good hockey sense. He has no clue how to run a successful franchise or build public support for a new arena.
Now as far as the sewer plant operations I have yet to hear why exactly this is bad, other then those that have family working there. Lets face it the county’s largest cost is the work force and they are not the most efficient bunch at that. Make sure you have enough clauses in the contract to protect the tax payer, that’s in, basic contract management.
The typical annual residential water and/or sewer bill in constant January 2011 dollars By 2011, after an average of 11 years of private control, water bills in these communities had nearly tripled on average. A typical household was paying an extra $434 a year (or $344 in constant January 2011 dollars) on average for water or sewer service. Under private ownership, water rates grew at an average of about three times the rate of inflation, averaging an increase of 18 percent every other year (see table). http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc//water_prices.pdf
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nassau-mulls-private-operator-for-sewers-1.3610456 THE 3 BIDDERS Serious Allegations Against United Water and a Long and Troubled Track Record http://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4772:serious-allegations-against-united-water-and-a-long-and-troubled-track-record&catid=58:budgetfiscal&Itemid=79 Veolia Has a History of Environmental Mishaps and Other Operational Problems http://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4775:veolia-has-a-history-of-environmental-mishap-and-other-operational-problems&catid=58:budgetfiscal&Itemid=79 Ofwat today published its proposals to fine Severn Trent Water 3% of its turnover - a total of �35.8 million - for deliberately providing false information to the regulator and providing a poor service to its customers. http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/legacy/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/Content/prs_pn1108_svt080408_proposedfine.html
A. Yes, compared to local governments, private utilities charge the typical household 33 percent more for water (see table 1) and 63 percent more for sewer service (see table 2). For several states, the difference is even starker. In Delaware, investor-owned utilities charge 75 percent more than municipalities do for water. In Texas, American Water charges two and a half times as much as the typical municipality for sewer service. Q. Are private water utilities more efficient than public utilities? A. No, private utilities are not more efficient than public utilities, according to a meta-analysis of econometric studies about privatization and costs in water distribution by professors from the University of Barcelona and Cornell University. Q. Does profit motive encourage private utilities to reduce costs? A. No, in fact, profit motive can drive up costs. Because of state price regulation, private water utilities tie higher earnings to increased costs. They earn a rate of return on investment, so that the more they spend on a system, the more they profit. http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc//A-Cost-Comparison-of-Public-and-Private-Water.pdf
A. No, private management of water and sewer projects often increases costs. A professor of economics from Florida State University studied the construction of 35 wastewater treatment plants and concluded, “These figures suggest that choosing the privatization option is more costly than going with the traditional municipally owned and operated facility.” Q. Does privatization reduce financing costs? A. No, private financing generally is more expensive than public financing. For example, over the last decade, even the best-rated, or prime, corporate bonds were 26 percent more expensive than the typical municipal general obligation bond, and medium-grade corporate bonds were 47 percent more expensive than municipal bonds. http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc//A-Cost-Comparison-of-Public-and-Private-Water.pdf
http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/Food&WaterWatchonPrivatization.pdf
http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc//p3s.pdf
- The sewer bill, in fact, is what cost Pack and her co-workers their jobs. In 1996, the average monthly sewer bill for a family of four in Birmingham was only $14.71 — but that was before the county decided to build an elaborate new sewer system with the help of out-of-state financial wizards with names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The result was a monstrous pile of borrowed money that the county used to build, in essence, the world's grandest toilet — "the Taj Mahal of sewer-treatment plants" is how one county worker put it. What happened here in Jefferson County would turn out to be the perfect metaphor for the peculiar alchemy of modern oligarchical capitalism: A mob of corrupt local officials and morally absent financiers got together to build a giant device that converted human excrement into billions of dollars of profit for Wall Street — and misery for people like Lisa Pack. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-main-street-20100331
Jefferson County, Ala., which owes more than $3 billion on a failed sewer deal, filed Wednesday for what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history after a tentative rescue plan with creditors unraveled. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204224604577028491526654090.html
Joe the Islander do not attract big time free agents. The continue to make offers with big money to get shot down by free agents. The coliseum is a dump and that has nothing to do with Wang. The team is a mess and that has to do with Wang and management. I do agree 100% on your opinion that the taxpayer needs to be protected. Once again the fact the coliseum is being rented out by Madonna and the county sees NO revenue is completely out of line.
https://veolia.taleo.net/careersection/extexp/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=254801&src=JB-13806 https://veolia.taleo.net/careersection/extexp/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=295941&src=JB-13806
BTW, Interesting tidbit. The current executive assistant to Veolia's CEO, Susan Piccolo, started at Veolia on 1/2012; Prior to her move, she worked as the office manager for Park Strategies, LLC from 1/1/07– 1/1/12.
Several cities floated the idea of auctioning off their water systems not because the systems were burdens or liabilities, but because they were valuable assets that could fetch a high price. Because of fiscal challenges, even well-run systems in excellent condition faced possible privatization. http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/PrivatizationTrends.pdf
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had previously identified Nassau County facilities at Glen Cove, Bay Park, Cedar Creek, and Inwood as potential treatment sites.