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Martin Cantor //September 14, 2023
Cantor: Trust in our institutions, an eroding commodity
Martin Cantor //September 14, 2023
Trust is fickle. Hard to earn, yet once tarnished, hard to regain. According to Gerard Baker’s recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about “How American Institutions Went from Trust to Bust,” trust among Americans has become an eroding commodity.
Based on a Gallop General Social Survey, Baker opined that in the span of a generation, people’s confidence in their leaders and their institutions to do the right thing had collapsed, including “mutual trust – the social glue that holds the country together. Americans have become suspicious of one another.” Furthermore, Gallop found that the “proportion of those saying people can be trusted dropped from nearly half to less than a third in the past 50 years, and the problem with institution isn’t distrust but untrustworthiness.” Locally, issues of institutional trust are being tested.
In Suffolk County, a snag developed for a proposed .125% sales tax rate increase that would generate $4 billion for sewer upgrades and create a countywide wastewater district to administer the $4 billion. The new sales tax increases, which would fund sewers and grants for septic upgrades for individual property owners, requires Suffolk voter approval. State legislation authorized the county to schedule a voter referendum. The snag developed over how the funds would be allocated, and that some funds should come from the sales tax funded Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Fund. The state sponsors of the original legislation assured local legislators that amendments would be made to the legislation when the state legislature convenes in January 2024. However, not heard from are the New York State Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader. Without their assent nothing is certain. In politics you vote on what is before you, not vote on something that is expected to happen. Legislative approval for a Suffolk County voter referendum was tabled. A trust issue indeed.
Another big trust issue lies with the public hearings currently being conducted by the New York State Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority. Public hearings are being held on the proposed legislation approving municipalization of Long Islands’ power. Government would run power delivery by way of an appointed board whose members would be chosen by the governor, and majority leaders of the state Assembly and Senate. The same government that Baker opines has lost the confidence of the people. Few Long Islanders have any trust that energy cost relief is possible.
Can ratepayers trust that legislators conducting the hearing will listen? Is municipalization a done deal? Will other state legislators deep dive into the economic ramifications of a plan converting the current LIPA-PSEG public-private partnership to a public power entity? Much is at risk not to have an independent review of the commission’s analysis, methodology and underlying budget assumptions based on LIPA’s data. Governor Hochul should be seeking answers to the hard question. Are municipalization savings, estimated by a LIPA consultant at $50 million to $80 million of LIPA’s $3.6 billion budget, worth scuttling the current public-private model?
For the governor, this is a moment where trust begins. To gain ratepayers’ trust she needs to share her thoughts with them, something to date, she hasn’t done. With Long Island frequently changing energy providers, who could blame Long Islanders for having little trust in ever seeing energy cost relief.
Martin Cantor is director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy and a former Suffolk County economic development commissioner. He can be reached at [email protected].
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