Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti stood with fellow Republicans this week to demand something his own party doesn't usually ask for: a government takeover of a private utility. The target is Liberty Utilities, the Canadian-based company that controls part of Nassau County's water system, which is now seeking another round of rate increases on top of hikes it won just two years ago.
Ferretti said Liberty's customers already pay too much and called the latest proposed increases outrageous, urging the New York State Public Service Commission to reject the company's request outright, according to the New York Post. The town has pegged the potential hit to ratepayers at roughly $30 a month, or more than $360 a year, though the exact figures Liberty filed with the state vary by service area. Newsday has reported the company's proposed increases at 28.3% for Lynbrook customers, 29.71% for Sea Cliff and 36.99% for Merrick-area customers, translating to monthly bill increases of $27.77, $26.89 and $21.20 respectively, according to Newsday. Those numbers differ from the 22% and 30% figures Ferretti's camp has cited for parts of Hempstead, and from an earlier Newsday report pegging the Merrick increase at 37% and Sea Cliff at 29.7% — a discrepancy that has not been resolved as the case moves through the state review process.
A State Agency Built to Buy Liberty Out
Ferretti and his allies aren't just venting — they want the South Nassau Water Authority, a public entity the state created by law in 2021 specifically to take over Liberty's water services in Hempstead, to actually complete a purchase. The pitch is that public ownership could deliver water service at a much lower cost than the investor-owned utility, which serves roughly 120,000 Hempstead customers. But Ferretti said Liberty has rejected multiple buyout offers already, and he placed the blame partly on Albany, arguing that the state's routine approval of Liberty's rate hikes gives the company little incentive to sell.
That dynamic — regulators greenlighting increases while a public buyer waits in the wings — is exactly why Ferretti says fighting the rate hikes matters for the municipalization push, not just for monthly bills. Liberty, for its part, told Newsday it is actively engaged in good-faith negotiations around municipalization, though it said a mutual confidentiality agreement prevents it from sharing details. The company says the increases it's currently seeking are needed to repair aging infrastructure and to meet mandates requiring it to filter out harmful forever chemicals, the same outlet reported.
A Pattern of Stalled Buyout Attempts
This isn't the first time a Nassau-area public authority has tried to pry a service territory away from Liberty. In 2024, the South Nassau Water Authority had formulated a bid for Liberty's roughly 120,000-customer, primarily Hempstead territory and said it had agreed on a price to offer, though the amount was never disclosed and Liberty was given 60 days to respond, per Newsday's earlier reporting. Around the same time, the Water Authority of North Shore was close to submitting its own bid for about 4,500 Liberty customers in Sea Cliff and surrounding areas, while the Massapequa Water District's separate effort to acquire an approximately 5,800-customer territory in East Massapequa had reportedly stalled after its opening $12.3 million offer came in well below the $21 million value it had assigned the territory back in 2022.
Those earlier maneuvers followed a 2024 round of Liberty rate increases that the company described as its first in seven years, which produced cumulative three-year hikes ranging from 18% to 45% for many customers, according to the same Newsday account. The state noted at the time that Liberty had invested $204.9 million in infrastructure since 2017. South Nassau Water Authority officials said in the spring that they were prepared to negotiate a purchase, with talks expected to stretch on for months.
An Unusual Fight for the GOP
Ferretti's push cuts against the grain of a party platform that more often favors privatizing public services rather than the reverse. He's framed the issue in blunt terms: private companies exist to turn a profit, he argues, while municipal water systems don't — and he says there should be no profit motive attached to something as basic as clean water. The goal, as he's put it, is supplying residents with clean water, not generating returns for shareholders.
Ferretti has also pointed to the state's broader electricity fight as a cautionary tale. A bipartisan state commission in 2023 urged the Long Island Power Authority to drop private operator PSEG and run the power grid itself, projecting savings of at least half a billion dollars over a decade. A private company lobbied against that plan in 2024, and the proposal was declared dead on arrival once it reached Governor Kathy Hochul's desk. Whether public ownership of Nassau's water system would actually generate comparable savings remains unclear, and statewide, only about 4% of New Yorkers get their water from private investor-owned utilities, according to the state Department of Public Service as cited by the Post.
What Happens Next
The state Public Service Commission is reviewing Liberty's current rate request under Case 26-W-0358, according to the New York State Department of Public Service. Nassau residents will get a chance to weigh in directly at public hearings scheduled for November 18, with in-person sessions at noon and 5 p.m., plus a virtual hearing set for December 2 at 1 p.m., Newsday reported. No final decision on the rate increase has been announced, and whether Liberty and a public authority ultimately reach a sale remains an open question as both sides describe talks as ongoing.
