SACKETS HARBOR — An effort to save seasonal residents money on their water rates ended with a policy that could charge them more for water.
In June, village Trustee Genie McKay complained that seasonal residents were being charged the full rate when they have their water meters reinstalled, even if the meter reading was a few days after the installation.
"We should not be nailing them with more charges," she said Thursday at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Board members agreed to adopt a policy to charge a minimum rate of $50 when a meter is reinstalled. That minimum rate was conditional on the installation being within the final month of a quarter and the resident using less than 1,500 gallons. But residents also will get $50 bills during the quarters the meter is not installed.
The regular rate had been $90 for the 2007-08 fiscal year, but was increased to $105, effective for the August reading. Meters also are read at the end of February, May and November.
In some cases for seasonal residents, this could actually increase their cost for water. For example, if residents install their meters in June and stay through August — one quarter — they would pay $150 more than under the old policy.
Even if the resident usually stays into September or October, they would still pay $100 more.
It does benefit seasonal residents who come near the end of billing quarters, such as May.
Under the new rates and old system, if a seasonal resident installed a meter near the end of May and stayed through Labor Day weekend, the resident would pay $105 per quarter, or $315.
Under the new system, as long as residents didn't use more than 1,500 gallons in May, they would pay $105 for two quarters and $50 for two quarters, for a total of $310.
Seasonal residents also are charged a $25 meter installation fee, which is new this year. Seasonal residents who attended the meeting complained that the rates were too high.
"At home, I pay $126 for an entire year," said Otto H. Hayes, East Syracuse. "It's not fair."
Year-round residents and those who do not have the Department of Public Works remove the meters are charged the minimum rate of $105 for each quarter for the first 3,000 gallons.
The reduced rate is based on the debt that all residents in the village pay for the water system. That has been about $317,000 over the last two years, or about 44.5 percent of the water budget. Fifty dollars is about the same percentage of the standard minimum charge.
"The money has to come from somewhere," Mayor Michael R. Kinnie said. "We have to balance the water budget, and the only place it can come from is water rates."
Deputy Mayor F. Eric Constance argued that all village residents should always share in both the debt service and necessary operations costs.
"What we have to do is make it fair for everyone in this village," he said. "These charges don't go away."
Mrs. McKay pointed out that water users in the village pay higher rates than those in any other village in Jefferson County. The next-highest is Dexter, which bills $68.75 per quarter, she said.
"People can't afford it," she said. "It's just ridiculous."
The system's debt service includes payments for water service expansion in the village. The village did not use water districts in the past to pay the debt service. But it did with the Ontario Shores project along Ontario Street, completed in 2007.
Many seasonal residents live in the Ontario Shores district, where residents paid $207 this year on their water district's debt.
Betsy Stoker was the village clerk for 13 years. She and her husband are residents of the village, but also own homes in Watertown and Oswego.
"There's no minimum rate in those places. We pay for what we use," she said. "This is going to drive people out of this village."
