Owner should not renege on financial contributions
Published 05:16 p.m., Thursday, July 7, 2011
FIRST AND FOREMOST THE LAKE IS A STORAGE CONTAINER FOR KINETIC ENERGY IN THE BUSINESS PLAN OF FIRSTLIGHT ... THE FIVE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES HAVE OTHER INTERESTS RANGING FROM RECREATION, SPORT FISHING, AND MOST IMPORTANT AS A PREMIUM TO THEIR TAX BASE OF THE HOMES DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY WITH A VIEW OF THE LAKE.
Instead, FirstLight Power Resources, part of a multinational company, is pinching pennies and shamefully reneging on its agreement.
The five communities surrounding the man-made lake -- Danbury, Brookfield, New Milford, New Fairfield and Sherman -- plus the lake's owner have shared equally in paying for the Candlewood Lake Authority's services. The arrangement goes back to the mid-1980s with FirstLight's predecessors, Northeast Generation Co.
For the fiscal year that ended June 30, a share amounted to $60,500 for each of the six entities.
Sherman, the smallest of the municipalities, paid, as did Danbury, the largest. New Milford, Brookfield and New Fairfield paid. (NOTE: 60% OF THE LAKE IS WITHIN THE TOWN OF NEW FAIRFIELD)
But FirstLight, with electricity-generating plants in Connecticut and Massachusetts, decided days before the close of the fiscal year that it would pay only $15,000 of its 2010-11 obligation.
It is totally unfair to ask the authority at the last minute to plug in a $45,000 shortfall of expected income.
Worse yet, FirstLight does not intend to contribute its share for this 2011-12 fiscal year.
FirstLight has not entirely ignored the lake. The company has undertaken projects to try to control the invasive watermilfoil plants and zebra mussels, as a spokesman pointed out.
That is appreciated, but such maintenance also comes with ownership of a lake. Both environmental menaces could pose problems for intake valves and the operation of hydro-electric plants.
And it is not like FirstLight shoulders the expense alone. New Fairfield, for example, spent $10,000 last fall to study whether lake drawdowns affect the watermifoil.
The Candlewood Lake Authority, faced with the cutback in funds from FirstLight, now must consider rolling back services, including its necessary public service, marine patrol. (PERHAPS COLLECTING FEES FROM SPORT FISHING WOULD HELP IN FUNDING OF CLA BUDGET, INCREASING OTHER FEES PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE LAKE)
At 5,420 acres (60% OF THE ACRES ARE IN NEW FAIRFIELD) -- the largest inland body of water in Connecticut -- Candlewood Lake is a valuable environmental, economic and recreational resource for the region. (WHAT ROLE, OBLIGATION OR POSITION DOES THE STATE HAVE RELATIVE TO THE LAKE?)
No law orders the lake's owner to honor its agreement with the Candlewood Lake Authority and the five municipalities.
(PERHAPS THE AGREEMENT NEEDS TO BE REVISITED BY ALL PARTIES!)
But honor, fairness and the obligation to be a good neighbor would dictate that FirstLight should help pay for services to Candlewood Lake. (IS THE BEST NEIGHBOR IS A FENCE OR PERHAPS A LEGAL RELATIONSHIP ... OH, BUT ISN'T THAT WHAT A FENCE IS? IF FIRSTLIGHT FENCED IN THE LAKE AT THE 440 LINE ... OR CAN THEY? IF NOT, THEN ISN'T THAT A GOOD START AT REVISITING THE AGREEMENT?)
MAYBE THIS STORY DOESN'T REALLY PRESENT PROVIDE FAIR AND EVEN BALANCE TO THE OVERALL ISSUE?
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