The public generally avoided public hearings at the Queensbury Town Board meeting Monday evening Sept. 26. The town had nine public hearings on the agenda for the evening. All nine passed unanimously.
The first three involved individual home owners and their plans to make changes to their septic systems near Lake George. All three passed.
Of the next six, two involved special taxation areas near Glen Lake and Lake Sunnyside, that will use the collections to tamp down invasive aquatic plants. A third will tax people near Dunham's Bay on Lake George with the money used to improve wastewater treatment along the Lake George shoreline.
The final three public hearings concerned sewer taxes.
Two of those concerned already-established sewer districts. One proposal took five sewer districts in town and consolidated them into one large district and changed the tax rates there. The town now has three, down from seven, sewer districts.
The town hopes to gain efficiencies with the consolidation, and the hope is that “global costs” will be more equitably distributed, said the head of sewer and water departments, Christopher Harrington.
The town currently runs about a $27,000 deficit on sewer costs, but with the changes made last night will run in the black about $125,000.
The money collected can defray the costs of new construction or major repairs.
According to a report completed by the Chazen Companies in February, upcoming sanitary sewer projects considered by the town include the rehabilitation of old clay pipes and replacement of a sewer main on Broad Street in the City of Glens Falls, a pipe shared by the city and the town.
Taxes will rise for some people—up from $0 per year for some—and drop for others. "Taxes" are not the same as "O&M," operations and maintenance fees, which everyone pays. Where taxes cover major repair and construction, O&M covers day-to-day operations and small repairs.
Harrington said the tax increase on some people is necessary since the people paying the least were in districts that had no debt on their systems. That is, those districts had paid off the debt on major construction projects. By moving into the larger, consolidated district, they are sharing the current debt of other districts. However, by running a net positive budget and now being part of a larger district, the tax burden will be spread to more land owners, making future projects more affordable for all, he said.
Just one person from the public spoke on any of the sewer district hearings.
Rebecca Lloyd wondered about the new rates as her company, Duke Concrete, was slated to move from about $260 a year to over $1,400 in sewer taxes. Much of the water used at Duke goes into the concrete product or is used in the steam kilns. It does not go into the sewer.
“I’m respectfully asking for some concessions, if possible,” she said in an interview after her public comment. Lloyd is a vice president with Arnan Development Corp., the parent company to Duke Concrete Products at 50 Duke Industrial Park, just off Bay Road.
Her suggested fix was to install a meter to measure bathroom and kitchen use in the buildings since that water goes into the sewer system.
At first, Harrington and the County Board were reluctant to make a concession, but after thinking about it Harrington realized it could be an easy fix.
In an interview today he said his department already has an on-site meeting with Duke Concrete planned for early October to assuage the problem.
He said that Gambles Bakery, which uses a lot of water in baking, and the Great Escape, which uses a lot of water in pools, have special arrangements regarding sewer taxes, since a large portion of their water also does not go into the sewer system.
Harrington did not expect too many businesses to step forward asking for a similar metering correction.
"I don't know how many industries in Queensbury—how many it applies to. I think it's very few,” Harrington said.
Each district still pays different amounts in taxes and O&M.
Land owners in the Reservoir Park District in West Glens Falls will see rates of $495 per year in taxes.
Land owners in the South Queensbury sewer district near the airport will pay about $25.38 per unit, a levy which varies by property. Taxes are levied by “beneficial unit,” an arcane term that depends on the value of the sewer to the land owner. Land owners can owe less than one or up to dozens or more units.
Land owners in the new consolidated plan will pay about $23.35 per unit.
On Glen Lake, most property owners will pay between $60 and $120 in the 2022 Glen Lake Aquatic Plant Growth Control District Benefit Tax. That is down from about $140 last year.
On Lake Sunnyside, most property owners will pay between $36.21 and $760.45 2022 Lake Sunnyside Aquatic Plant Growth Control District Benefit Tax.
On Lake George, property owners will pay $10 and renters will pay $5 for the 2022 North Queensbury (Dunham’s Bay) Waste Water Disposal District Benefit tax.