Engineer outlines $5.325M water project, board defends connection fee that raised bills

Nick Bridal of Cedarwood Engineering gave a technical overview of the water-district capital-improvement project, its funding and how the district’s rate structure was redesigned to finance debt service. Bridal said the project is backed by Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) funding administered by New York State; “It is 60% grant and then 40% is a local match,” he told the board. He said Phase 1 work replaced a failing tank and upgraded mains and booster stations, and Phase 2 includes controls upgrades, emergency power hookups and transmission improvements to increase reliability.

Bridal and the Chair explained the district’s rate structure: bills include a connection (access) fee charged per parcel that is used to service the $5,325,000 project’s debt over a 30-year loan. A resident complained that the access fee rose to roughly $87 for an empty lot that used to be $25, and board members explained parcel-merger options through Warren County tax mapping as the primary local way to reduce duplicate fees. Bridal said the connection fee is designed to fund the capital debt-service payment and “the only time it would go up… is with an additional capital improvement project,” unless a formal bond resolution and public process are followed.

The meeting included technical questions about individual wells (wells 1–3 currently out of service; wells 4 and 6 functional; well 5 manually operated until controls upgrades), potential for additional well sources, PFAS sampling requirements and the practical challenges and equity issues of installing water meters. Bridal said controls upgrades (cellular monitoring, alarm notification and generator hookups) and a bid for remaining work were pending Department of Health approval and that the rate design reflects debt-service obligations from prior phases.