Carmel Water Rates to Double
Last week the Carmel Town Board approved a resolution that increased resident’s water rates by as much as 100 percent. It was the first time in a decade that the rates have been raised.
Water Districts 2, 4, 12 and 22 will increase by at least 100 percent. Districts 3, 5,6,7,8, 13 and 14 will rise by approximately 50 percent. District 9 will go up by 33 percent; District 10 by 6 percent. Only District 1, which is within the hamlet of Mahopac, will remain flat.
The percentage the district’s rent was raised depended on the amount of expenses it had to cover.
The measure was taken as a way to rectify problems identified in the state Comptroller’s Offices audit of the town’s water accountability, which covered the period of Jan. 1, 2010 to Oct. 12, 2011.
“The current water rates are insufficient to keep pace with increases in operating costs,” said the report. “This resulted in annual operating deficits, decreasing fund balances, and two districts with deficit fund balances.”
Currently districts 2, 4, 12 and 14 are operating at a deficit.
“We were not collecting enough money from the rents,” said town Comptroller MaryAnn Maxwell. “We have expenditures for each district, expenditures that keep going up, but the rents have remained the same so we have had to raise taxes in those districts over the past 10 years. Some of the districts are in deficits now because we could not keep up with the expenditures.”
Maxwell explained that District 2 currently charges $1.20 per 1,000 gallons. The water rents only generate $245,000 in revenue, which accounts for only 19 percent of the $1.379 million worth of expenses the district has. The new rate would be $3.25 per 1,000 and is expected to cover up to 51 percent of the district’s expenditures.
As a silver lining to the rate increase, many taxpayers will experience a decrease in the amount of taxes they have to pay toward that special district’s tax. However Maxwell warned that most people will not see the difference.
“Because of the new garbage tax and the increase in the town’s tax, most residents won’t see a decrease because they are only going to look at the taxes as a whole,” said Maxwell. “If they look at the individual lines they should see a decrease in their water line.”
The increased rents will also cause larger families to pay more than individuals or couples.
“If you have a family if six in District 8 and an elderly couple who lives in the same district, they are both paying around the same amount for their water use, even though the family of six uses more water, because a majority of the money is coming from the taxes collected and not the rents,” said Maxwell. The new rates should force those who use more water to pay for more water.
When asked about the rate increase, residents around the town of Carmel seem perplexed. “I do not know anything about it,” was the response from nine out of 10 people.
The Putnam Examiner reached out to the Hamel of Carmel Civic Association to find out their reaction to the increase.
“I was not aware of the rate increases and do not recall either getting a notice or reading about it in the papers,” said Frank Chianca, president of the civic association. “Since I do not know the circumstances, I do not feel qualified to comment other than the fact that I was unaware of it. I reached out to the HCCA board of directors to see if any of them were knowledgeable about this situation and could speak to you about it. So far, I have received three responses and none were aware of this.”
Town Supervisor Ken Schmitt said that the rates were discussed during public meetings and the residents had an opportunity to come out them.
“This was something we had to do,” said Schmitt. “I live in District 8 and my water bill is going to go up to. The state Comptroller’s Office said that this was something we had to do.
The new water rates will take effect on Jan.1. The first water bill with the new rates will be sent out in April.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
