Watertown Faces $34 Million Debt To Waterbury: What’s Next?

Watertown owes Waterbury $34 million dollars, but it's got me wondering if an interesting trade could be worked out instead of payment?

After a flurry of lawsuits and appeals the Connecticut Appellate Court has ruled that the town of Watertown owes the City of Waterbury $34 million dollars. I'm sure that the blame game is happening, but the end result is that Watertown may have to come up with an incredible sum of money to pay off it's debt.

Why does Watertown owe Waterbury $34,000,000?

Water. According to fox61.com, WATERtown owes WATERbury $18.8 million dollars for unpaid water and sewer services. The main gist of the dispute is the rates that Waterbury has charged Watertown, which is apparently below market value. They've been arguing over 'fair fees' since 2018, and throughout the court battle interest did not stop accruing. So, in the meantime, the initial sum owed has doubled to around $34 million dollars.

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Watertown recently passed it's budget, which came out to just over $38 million for the year, obviously this settlement was not factored in.

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I started imagining different scenarios of how Watertown could work off some of it's debt to Waterbury. Could they trade land to offset the cost? Raise the mill rate? Sell some bonds? Sell off unused assets? There is no easy answer.

Stupid thought: Could Watertown give Waterbury a piece of shared-border land? Say the Pin Shop in Oakville? Brass City Tattoo? Bill Wildman? A piece of Bunker Hill behind Martino's, Roma, and 7-11? Nah, it's just a pipe dream, but the possibility of Ordinary Joe's or Hawk Ridge Winery in Waterbury needs a stupid thinker like me.

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Gallery Credit: Large Dave

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Gallery Credit: Google Maps

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Gallery Credit: Google/Large Dave

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