Comments on: New York and Formal Infrastructure https://alex.halavais.net/new-york-and-formal-infrastructure/ Things that interest me. Mon, 19 May 2008 19:32:35 +0000 hourly 1 By: alex https://alex.halavais.net/new-york-and-formal-infrastructure/comment-page-1/#comment-201607 Mon, 19 May 2008 19:32:35 +0000 http://alex.halavais.net/?p=1982#comment-201607 Adam: So your argument is that the reason New York City pays Albany a net tax bonus of $5 billion is for water? Maybe the answer is we should pay for the water? Oh, wait, we already do, at about $637 a year per household on average. There’s in no doubt that the aquifer system helps NYC as a city, but it makes no sense to forcibly subsidize that with income tax when there is already a structure in place for usage costs.

I’m even fine with letting the counties in which the reservoirs sit have discounted access to the water (just as Niagara county has discounted electricity from the Falls), but explain why it makes sense for city residents to pay for services to upstate residents. It’s not like New York City charges Albany for the fact that the city is the source of the state’s wealth. If the City seceded (which I think would be a good idea), upstate New York would be OK, but its economy would plummet.

]]> By: Adam https://alex.halavais.net/new-york-and-formal-infrastructure/comment-page-1/#comment-201606 Mon, 19 May 2008 18:02:36 +0000 http://alex.halavais.net/?p=1982#comment-201606 Unfair share of taxes to the upstate communities?

So… if you get to cut back on the taxes, can they cut back on little things like potable water? NYC water demands drain off of the Catskill Ashokan reservoirs as well as Croton Reservoirs etc. NYC pulls some from the Hudson, only a fraction of their demand, but even that is damaging enough to the Hudson to pull the salt line all the way up above Poughkeepsie occasionally.

Just curious… what’s the unfair portion allegedly going towards?

]]>