The Cary Town Council's recent decision to move ahead with an advanced water meter reading system is sound policy consistent with the values of the vast majority of our citizens: fiscal responsibility, environmental protection, government efficiency, and customer service excellence.

The system, Aquastar, will replace monthly manual meter reads with a wireless system that collects multiple remote meter reads per day. By moving to Aquastar now -- even with $17.9 million cost -- the town's utility system will conservatively see a $2.4 million savings, and those savings will help us keep utility rates as low as possible. Our investment, along with these savings, will be recouped over 17 years -- not after more than 83 years, as has been incorrectly alleged. ["Big Brother is Thirsty," Your Letters, Dec. 13].

The system will also reduce our impact on the environment by eliminating the need for nearly a dozen people to travel over 71,000 miles and use more than 7000 gallons of gas each year to read over 50,000 meters in Cary and Morrisville each month. It will enhance our ability to help utility customers quickly detect and stop costly leaks, which is especially important during tough economic times. And, Aquastar will help citizens better meet their own conservation goals as we all do our part to live within the finite water supply bounds of Jordan Lake.

Finally, your Town government has an excellent record of keeping information safe, whether it's stored on computer servers or in office filing cabinets, and we will continue protecting the privacy of our utility customer information according to all state and federal laws.

Ben Shivar Cary

The author is town manager of Cary.

Meters are unnecessary expense

The Cary Town Council has a long history of spending our tax dollars in the name of "quality of life."

We've got the Cary Tennis Park, with 30 courts, including a grandstand and teaching court. If you don't care for tennis, try the USA Baseball facility with four lighted fields designed and built to Major League Baseball standards.

The latest example? Paying $18 million for a wireless water meter system ["New water meters get mixed reviews," Dec. 6].

This project includes replacing 57,000 existing water meters. It breaks even in 9 years, based on the town's numbers. But they've omitted the $5 million in interest so the project cost is closer to $23 million, with $18 million in savings based in part on meter reader-position cuts.

This isn't a new idea. Cary paid a consultant in 1999, 2002, and 2005 to study AMI.

The idea didn't make sense then, and it does now? Has Cary even considered moving the reading and billing cycle from monthly to quarterly? They could reduce the meter reader and accounts receivable positions by two-thirds, and avoid a huge amount of public debt. Cary might want to look at outsourcing the quarterly reading. Public utilities already figured this out.

The council needs more input from the general public -- the 95 percent of us who just want to live in a nice, safe community.

Contact your council rep and let them know how you feel.

Mike Ruppert Cary