WHO WILL PAY THE PRICE OF NASHUA'S ACTIONS
The city of Nashua Board of Aldermen has decided to spend another $300,000 of taxpayers’ money to assess the value of Pennichuck Corporation to determine if it is financially feasible for the city to take our assets by eminent domain.Here are some facts that may not have been considered, but Nashua taxpayers should not overlook:
- The city is already facing the possible elimination of kindergarten, closing an elementary school, employee layoffs and cutbacks in services if it is to survive a $5,000,000 budget deficit without raising taxes. Another $300,000 expenditure does nothing but make this hole even deeper.
- The presentation at Tuesday’s meeting was delivered by the very consultant and lawyer that the city intends to hire and pay $300,000, yet no one questioned the objectivity of their analysis. The only people who will benefit from this extraordinary expenditure will be the people who convinced the aldermen it was a good idea.
- As we indicated earlier in our informational series, we believe the value of Pennichuck is in the range of $200 million, more than double the estimate suggested by the consultants (www.pennichuck.com, Nashua Condemnation of Pennichuck will be Lengthy, Costly and Uncertain). The city’s lower estimate comes from the same consultant who irresponsibly advised the aldermen that they could illegally increase Pennichuck’s real estate taxes to recover the city’s legal costs. One can only imagine about the quality of the rest of the advice from these “experts.”
- Ironically, if the plan to reassess Pennichuck’s property to recover the city’s litigation costs were legal, the higher taxes would ultimately be borne by Nashua citizens in the form of higher water rates.
- The city’s hostile attempt to take Pennichuck’s assets by eminent domain will be a long and expensive battle with absolutely no guarantee that the city will be successful. The city has already spent $300,000 with nothing to show for it. It now intends to spend another $300,000 on consultants, just the first installment of at least an additional $857,600 the city estimates it will need. To make matters worse, this amount is projected to cover only consultant expenditures through the end of 2005, not the additional legal costs of continued litigation in the years beyond 2005.
The city cannot just walk away from the process and ignore these extraordinary expenditures if the price for taking Pennichuck’s assets is determined to be too high. Pennichuck will be unrelenting in defending itself against this hostile takeover attempt by the city and protecting itself from the damage caused by the city’s actions. As the oldest continuously operating business in New Hampshire, we have survived and prospered through many difficult times. In this instance, we remain focused on delivering quality water and reliable service to our customers, and we are resolved to protect the interests of our employees, customers and shareholders.
We will continue our series to inform you how the city’s actions may affect your taxes and our company.
Pennichuck Corporation
March 22, 2004
