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Board reviews draft flood-mitigation fee that could raise roughly $500,000 a year
Summary
The Village of Emeritus reviewed a draft local law to create a flood-mitigation and stormwater user fee billed through the Westchester Joint Water Works; drafters estimate it could yield about $500,000 annually (roughly $78 per household) but trustees pressed for tighter limits on permitted uses.
The Village of Emeritus on Tuesday reviewed a draft local law that would create a flood-mitigation and stormwater user fee billed on residents' water accounts through the Westchester Joint Water Works.
The village attorney said the draft ties the charge to water usage (per 100 cubic feet) and estimated the proposal could “potentially yield about half $1,000,000 per year,” which the board discussed as roughly $500,000 annually and about “dollars 78 per household per year” based on average usage. The draft would allow the board to set the rate by resolution after adopting an initial local law.
Why it matters: proponents said the fee would supply a steady local match for flood‑risk grants and fund drainage and water‑quality projects, including MS4 program improvements and maintenance obligations that follow larger capital projects.
Board members pushed back on the language and scope. Committee member (Speaker 8) said she would “feel more comfortable if there was more detail around what this fee could be used for,” arguing the current a–n list in the draft was “a little open ended” and expressing concern that monies could be redirected to routine operating expenses. Another trustee (Speaker 4) warned that past experience with the village sewer fund showed how broadly written funds can be used for staff and overhead rather than shovel‑ready mitigation projects: “It kinda feels a little deceiving… after you're done paying a through n, how much is actually going to be left to put towards a local match on a flood mitigation project?”
Village counsel (Speaker 9) acknowledged the draft is an early version and said the language was partly modeled on provisions used in New Rochelle and Ithaca. He told the board the waterworks can add the fee to its billing roster and that the authority anticipates billing quarterly and distributing proceeds to the village. “They… would bill it, I believe quarterly,” he said.
Several members urged narrowing permitted uses so revenue remains dedicated to flood mitigation and local match payments. The attorney said the initial enabling step would be a local law and that the board could retain the ability to set the rate later by resolution. Trustees agreed to refine the draft and return it to a future session for more specific limits and clearer examples of eligible projects.
What happens next: staff will revise the draft to pare down allowable uses and provide clearer examples of eligible projects, cost estimates and projected revenue scenarios; the item will return to a future work session for further refinement before any local-law vote.
