Brewster Trustees Schedule Vote on Southeast Water Fees

Brewster village trustees will vote on a controversial water rate increase later this month following a heated public hearing last week.

Trustees will vote on the measure following a special meeting scheduled for Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. at village hall on its proposed plan to raise water rates by $300 a quarter, or $1200 a year, for approximately 45 nearby Southeast properties that currently receive water through the village.

“This should have been set up 40 years ago,” Brewster Mayor James Koenig told residents. “This has been an ongoing problem.”

The impetus for the rate hike is an outstanding balance of $220,000 owed to the village by around 15 Southeast property owners who have not paid their water bills, according to the trustees. Repairs to the aging water pipes have cost the village $50,000, and since the village is unable by law to make repairs itself it must contract the work out at a higher cost than in-house work. A state court ruled the pipes are under the town’s jurisdiction, not the village.

Trustee Christine Piccini said the cost came from adding work cost for the past five years: $14,000 for 2011, $1,800 for 2012, $26,087 for 2014 and $3,337 so far for 2015. There were no repairs in 2013.

“That total is just over $46,000, and that doesn’t include any of the labor or overhead that, while we don’t go out to do those repairs, our crew is involved with,” Piccini said.

The village has no plans to replace the aging water pipes as it did with its own pipes several years ago at a cost of $15 million, but wants to recoup the cost of the repairs. $25,000 of the collected fees would go into a fund to prepare for future breaks.

At the Sept. 16 public hearing, residents of those Southeast properties to be effected told village officials on hand that a letter sent to them by the village ordering them to sign the enclosed new water contract left a bad taste in their mouths.

“It’s extortion,” said Southeast resident Al Balducci. “It said that if you don’t sign, we’re going to come turn your water off.”

Balducci was one of several residents who complained that they were denied the ability to put in wells to get their homes off the village water system by the Board of Health.

Residents of the village pay on a tier system based on how much water they use, while the Southeast residents pay a flat rate of 2.2 cents per gallon, explained Trustee Tom Boissanault. Under state law, income received from water fees cannot be used for repairs.

Linda Facarra, a realtor who owns a commercial property with five units, asked if each unit would be faced with the $1,200 increase. Trustees said the increase would be assessed just once, to the water meter the five units share.

Another concern of the residents was what would happen when the entire $50,000 was recouped. Southeast resident Susan Lockhart said the letter sent to residents did not indicate the fee increase was a one-time surcharge.

“This letter very clearly says that you will not make repairs going forward, and in listening to this conversation it’s clear to me that every time you spend more for repairs you will turn around and assess a surcharge to each and every one of us,” Lockhart said.

The town would hold another meeting to revisit the rates next year once the cost was recouped, said village clerk Peter Hansen.

Also on hand for the public meeting was Southeast Supervisor Tony Hay, who after hearing almost an hour of comments from residents and village officials, told the town residents if they wanted a water district like those in Peaceable Hill, it would cost approximately $1.5 million for each of two such districts needed to replace the village water system, a cost that Hay said would be shared by residents on top of their water bill.

“You’ll have bills higher than what you’re having right now at Spring House, which pays around $3,400 a year for water,” Hay said.

Trustees decided at a work session Monday that the Peaceable Hill water district would not be included in the proposed rate hike.

Hay asked to see documents saying the pipes in question are owned by the town of Southeast. He said the town did not build the water pipes from the village to the town residents, but instead claimed that the village installed them.

Hay did agree to work with the village to allow them access to shut off water to outstanding water account holders in Southeast.

Trustees eventually agreed to consider a lower quarterly rate after they reviewed more information requested from the town, and scheduled the Sept. 30 special meeting at the end of their regular meeting with the intention of taking some kind of action immediately afterwards.