Three citizens spoke at the Saugerties Town Board meeting on Wednesday, December13; all were concerned that the pace of development in the town could lead to a shortage of water.
Tom Francello, a former planning board member, said that he had seen an item in a newspaper citing the Glasco Water District as a major user of water from the Village of Saugerties Water Department, which also supplies water to parts of the town outside the village. Francello wanted to know whether the cost of that water is borne by all town residents, or if the parts of the district that use more water pay a higher rate. Specifically, Francello asked, “Is the Glasco Water District over its limit in the water it purchases from the town? And if it is, should we be letting these projects move forward with the way the water supply might be? And also, the article mentioned that water bills may go up. My question is: Are the water bills going to go up just for the people who are using overages for what they were allotted, or is the bill going up for the whole water district?”
“Historically, there are occasions when the daily allocation is exceeded,” supervisor Fred Costello said, adding that this is not very common. “We get a new rate in the Glasco, Malden, Kings Highway — all those external districts, we do not have our own primary water source. We buy our water from the village. They own the reservoir and they sell the water to these districts. When they increase the rate to us, we pass that cost on to all users.”
The town gets an allocation of 650,000 gallons per day, and when there are occasions, this amount is exceeded, Costello said. The total available water for the town is 1.5 million gallons, and this has never been exceeded. While a water study in 2008 indicated that the town does have sufficient water, it also sounded an alarm. “We know we have to be thoughtful about that.” Costello indicated that the town has potential resources outside the village, and the two municipalities will be working together to develop them.
Returning to his original question, Francello asked if a particular customer were using more water than others, would they be liable for a greater portion of the cost? “I don’t know that we could meter it that way,” Costello replied. “There is a primary meter the village relies upon to bill us directly, but there’s not a specific restriction on a homeowner.” (The water bill is based on a specific allocation; homes or businesses that use more than the basic allocation do pay a fee for water above that amount.) Outside users, who are not part of any of the water districts, do pay a different rate, Costello said. They are charged as outside users, and that doesn’t depend on how much they use.
The town is growing, and additional water resources that have been identified will need to be looked at, Costello noted.
Planning board member Mike Tiano reminded the town board that he had warned it earlier of new development, largely in the Glasco area, that would be straining water resources. He has researched the potential water use from approved developments, some of which are not at the construction stage. He suggested that the town explore other water sources, such as wells that would be added to the town’s water supply. He also suggested purchasing water from the Town of Ulster and developing wells in the Mount Marion area.
Also at the meeting, Grant Roberts said that he is concerned that the proposed subsidized senior citizen housing proposed by the Dominican Sisters would result in costly demands on the town water system. Costello assured him that all costs related to the development’s infrastructure would be paid for by the developers, not the town. Any improvements that the developers make must meet specifications provided by the town to ensure compatibility with the equipment that the town keeps in reserve for repairs and emergencies. The costs are all borne by the developers.
Donald Vandyke said that he understood that some residents of Spaulding Lane in Saugerties had not had a water bill since the Dominican Sisters proposed their development, which would be accessed through Spaulding Lane. He lives on Spaulding Lane and has received water bills regularly.
Costello responded that the residents of Spaulding Lane were not charged for the cost of installing pipe; they never had free water. They were invited to connect to that pipe — an invitation that is not completely unique. When the New York State Thruway Authority had water problems, it extended its lines to the Malden Water District and invited residents to connect, forming a water district, Costello explained. “That may have been what they were implying; I don’t think they were implying the water bill was going to be paid by them” (the Dominican Sisters).
Vandyke also questioned whether the town and village had enough water to meet the demand of the Dominican Sisters’ project and other development in the area.
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