Recall For Dummies: Intelligent Fecal Matter

Recall For Dummies is a series of short informative articles on the matters related to the Recall. The articles are provided in this open forum so that all opinions, corrections and contrasting points of view can be freely posted.

This Issue: Lesson 1 - Intelligent Fecal Matter

Introduction
On Marco Island there are 15,000 existing users of the sewer system and 6,000 residents that are on septic. The 6,000 septic users are being forced to go on the sewer system. The existing users are the folks that have been on sewer since day one, and the new users are the folks that have septic and are subject to the STRP. The existing users are the folks that have used the sewage treatment plant, and the new users are the folks that have never used the sewage treatment plant.

Facts
According to the City’s OWN LEGAL BRIEF – not the brief submitted by CARES – but the one submitted by the City:

• The sewage treatment plant has to be upgraded (“fixed”) even if not one new user is added to the sewer system
• The sewage treatment plant has to be expanded (“given more capacity”) to accommodate even one new user of the sewer system
• The Existing users complained about paying for expanding the plant
• The Existing users are exempt from paying for the plant expansion
• The Existing users will not use one iota of the expanded plant
• Only New users will pay for expanding the plant
• Both New users and Existing users will pay for upgrading the plant

Now, with the numbers provided BY THE CITY in their budget documents, upgrading the plant (to be paid by both existing and new users) will cost $29,077,783. Note that this is to upgrade the plant that only the existing users use – not to expand it to handle the 6,000 new customers.

Of the 21,000 total users, 6,000 (29%) are new users. 29% of $29,077,783 is $8,307,938.

That means that the new users to the treatment plant are being forced to pay over $8 million for something they have never used. It also means that the existing users have opted not to pay for the extra capacity that they claim they will not use.

Questions
How can existing users guarantee that they will not use any portion of the expanded facility? How can the City guarantee that the existing users will not use any portion of the expanded facility?

Why should new users of a sewage treatment plant pay to rebuild the old facility – a facility they have never used?

Another way to look at this issue: If the community as a whole does not benefit from the expanded capacity (as the City’s legal brief states), and that is the reason why only new users have to pay for the expanded capacity, then the community as a whole did not benefit from the old treatment plant that only some residents used.

And yet another way in case you missed it: If the community as a whole does not benefit from the expanded capacity (as the City’s legal brief states), and that is the reason why only new users have to pay for the expanded capacity, then why should the new users pay for the original capacity that hey did not use or benefit from?

Has the City of Marco Island violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – the Equal Protection clause – on this issue?

Summary
The City Council has refused to address this inequity.

A known inequity, specified in the City’s very own legal briefs, left without being addressed, is a serious and ethical indictment on this Council.

And as such, this known inequity is in part the basis for the recall.

Helpful Tables: (Click to Enlarge)