State Representative Tim Moffitt has introduced bills that would seize the City of Asheville’s holdings in the local airport and the water system. The bill that would grab the water system was diluted into a study bill. Now that studies are underway, citizens are championing Asheville’s cause.
I sided with Asheville during the last round, when Asheville wanted to dissolve the Dysfunctional Regional Water Authority (DRWA), mainly because of internally-inconsistent answers to questions I posed to representatives of Buncombe County’s stance. I was also swayed by hearing the same, crazy sound bites repeated by state legislators while mixed in with a group from Rutherfordton. Inconsequental, but enough to make the head itch, was the way MSDS folks chased after me when I left a public hearing on the matter. “There she is!” cried one, as if in an old slapstick comedy.
I and many others have written volumes on the injustice of the Sullivan acts. Since taking over the system, Asheville has taken better care of it. But that is not the point.
In the latest news, Moffitt claims he does not want the water system to be privatized.
“I would never advocate turning over public assets to a private owner. And I don’t think for us in our area that private management would be the right path for us to take,” Moffitt said about his newest proposal.
The logic doesn’t exactly persuade. Regardless, a regional authority was tried, and it was decided that didn’t work. Moffitt wishes to end Asheville’s ownership. Privatization could have been a great alternative. The remaining alternative appears to be a public board of a different composition, which conjures images of playing favorites through legislation. However, at least one good thing came out of the bill, and that is the city’s decision not to raise water rates.
