OSC Opinion No. 2024-01

December 4, 2024

Today, the Office of the State Comptroller advised the City of Troy that it is constitutional to bond for the replacement of lead service lines on both public and private property. This is a huge and genuinely historic step forward for lead advocates in Troy and around the state. 

OSC’s opinion closely mirrors the positions of advocates, experts, public officials, state agencies, labor unions, and residents over the course of this two-year melodrama. The document as a whole is summarized well by the following passage:

“[I]n light of the robust scientific evidence of the public health dangers of lead pipes, the overarching public purpose to remove lead from drinking water, the federal and state mandates, the federal program administered by the state, the fact that the City’s program benefits a wide swathe of the community as a whole, the explicit state authorization for notes and/or bonds to be issued for such purpose, we believe that any challenger would face a daunting, if not insurmountable task in meeting their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that private benefit is not incidental in the face of the primary public purpose served. Accordingly, we opine that the City of Troy’s bond issuance is constitutional.”

The two fundamental principles that OSC is clarifying for Troy are that (1) lead poisoning is a public health crisis and that (2) they are the government. In practice, what this means is that Troy has nothing left to hide behind and that it is time to implement the city’s lead service line replacement program at the scale that was promised. At this point, the Mantello administration may be right to worry about the potential legal implications of using public funds to benefit private actors, but not when it comes to lead pipes.

It took many hundreds of neighbors helping neighbors to get here. There is more to be said and much more to be done, but we are so grateful to all of you for keeping the pressure on over these last two years. We are especially grateful to Assemblymember McDonald and every member of his staff for their incredible persistence in getting us here today.