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Bellone calls for ballot referendum on public water surcharge; local officials say plan is not yet ready for prime time

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is calling for a water use surcharge to fund sewage and septic treatment systems.

The proposed $1 per thousand gallons of water used would generate an estimated nearly $75 million in annual revenue, Bellone says. The could only be used for wastewater improvements. All public water providers in Suffolk County would be required to collect the surcharge, including the Suffolk County Water Authority and the Greenport Water Department.

The sewage and septic treatment projects to receive funding will be determined by county legislature and county executive with input from an advisory committee — comprising local officials, community and environmental leaders — that would make recommendations annually to the county executive and county legislature regarding projects to be advanced.

A portion of fund revenues would be designated and made available for town and village governments to offset the cost of improvements or connections to town and village sewage treatment plants, according to a press release issued by Bellone’s office. The proposal was first reported yesterday by Newsday.

Bellone is seeking a ballot referendum this November authorizing the surcharge.

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County Executive Steve Bellone discussing his proposal at a press conference in Southaven County Park this afternoon. Courtesy photo

He has the support of a coalition of environmental and business groups whose representatives appeared with him at a press conference today in Southaven County Park in Yaphank, as well as the support of Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine, Southampton Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, South Fork Legislator Bridget Fleming and Assemblyman Fred Thiele. Supporters hailed it as a bold an innovate step to take action on the nitrogen pollution crisis.

“This is absolutely critical,” said Long Island Pine Barrens Society executive director Richard Amper during a media conference call with the county executive this afternoon. “All of our water, whether it’s drinking or surface water, emerges from groundwater.” He called the nitrogen crisis “the greatest challenge in the history of Long Island.”

“Nitrogen overload is on nearly everyone’s mind across Long Island and identifying financing mechanisms to replace failing septic systems is a top priority of New York League of Conservation Voters,” said Marcia Bystryn, league president. “This fund and the creation of a county-wide water quality improvement district would accomplish just that.”

But Bellone does not have support on the proposed November referendum from North Fork supervisors Scott Russell and Sean Walter, who both say the proposal isn’t ready for prime time.

“They haven’t identified the scope or scale of the problem. They haven’t yet identified  the causes of the problem and they certainly haven’t identified any solutions,” Russell said. “Yet they did identify a new nifty way  to tax people without calling it a tax,” he said.

He said the referendum and the surcharge on water bills is the lazy way out. “Call it what it is. It’s a tax. Have courage to call it that and put it into the tax bill, instead of putting it on the water bill and then paying the water company money to collect,” Russell said.

The Southold supervisor said the plan was fundamentally unfair. “What about residents on private wells?” he asked. That’s about 80 percent of the residents of Southold Town, he said. “They’re not subject to the tax, so you’re asking people to vote on this who won’t have to pay it. They’ll be voting to tax other people,” he said. It may also be unfair to people already in sewer districts, who are already paying a premium to protect the water supply. “Are we asking them to pay twice?”

Walter said something has to be done and he’s “not fundamentally opposed to a fee being charged to fund it.” For most residents, it’s not a lot of money in the scheme of things, he said.

“It would hit our senior communities hard,” he allowed. They are among the biggest water consumers in the town. The hospital is also a top user, at 14 million gallons a year. At that consumption level, PBMC would have to ante up $14,000 a year in surcharges.

Both supervisors expressed concern about “the county legislature holding the purse strings,” as Russell put it, for the proposed water quality protection fund.

“Look at the fight we’ve had for our legal share of the quarter-percent sales tax for police protection,” Walter said, referring to the allocation of revenues from an increase in the county sales tax rate set aside by state law to fund public safety. The state law authorizing the sale tax rate hike did not distinguish between the county police department and the East End town or the many village police departments throughout the county. Initially shared on a per-capita basis, the revenue-sharing with the East End towns shriveled from 1998 until 2015. Former South Fork legislator Jay Schneiderman in 2014 estimated the county had shortchanged the East End towns more than $54 million over the years.

“The real concern is that as money comes in, the needs of the East End are going to be eclipsed very quickly by the needs of the western towns,” Russell said. He predicts the money will go to expand existing sewer systems in western Suffolk. “That’s not going to help us,” he said.

“Right now there’s no assurance that the East End is going to be at the table. There has to be an understanding that our needs are different,” Russell said.

North Fork County Legislator Al Krupski echoed the concerns of the supervisors — and agreed that it needs to be discussed further before moving forward.

He also said the water quality protection fund should include a dedicated funding stream for open space and farmland preservation. The quarter-percent sales tax for preservation has 25 percent diverted for sewer rate stabilization, “so at least 25 percent of this should go to open space and farmland preservation,” Krupski reasoned.

“It’s all very new. We’re trying to wrap our heads around it,” Krupski said. The legislator said he was briefed on the proposal Friday. “But the devil is in the details.”

Katie Blasl contributed reporting.

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.