FISHKILL, N.Y. – Fishkill residents in the Dutchess Park Sewer District are irate that the Town Board voted to raise their rates by 135 percent, but board members say it would have been more expensive in the long run if they didn’t do it.
The Town Board approved the rate hike 4-0. Councilman Timothy Tuttle abstained from the vote. Residents of the sewer district will now pay $97.20 for 1,000 cubic-feet of sewage, up from $41.40.
Supervisor Bob LaColla said that the sewer rate increase is one of the final steps the town needs to take to improve its financial situation.
Currently, the town owes the city of Beacon $1.1 million, which it is paying off with a 2 percent interest rate. Beacon Mayor Randy Casale, who was at the Fishkill Town Board meeting on Wednesday night, said that Beacon has been “more than fair” with Fishkill on the debt it s owed going back to the third quarter of 2011. Casale said the city has gotten to the point where its capital project plans are being affected without the money Fishkill owes it.
“It’s not fair to our ratepayers,” Casale said. “If nothing gets done, we will wind up in litigation and [Fishkill] would have to pay us more money. Nobody likes to see rate increases but there is no room for compromise. Over the years the cost of business has gone up. When no rates were raised for many years, that should have raised a red flag in everybody’s eyes.”
LaColla said that one of the reasons for the high rate increase to sewer district is because residents were charged less than they should have been paying over the years, adding that it was not enough to pay the bills.
“These new rates will not only pay the bills but will pay the outstanding money we owe to Beacon,” LaColla said.
Fishkill resident Pat Lewis questioned the “credibility” of the numbers that the Town Board presented to the public. Lewis said that money was borrowed from the sewer district to pay general town bills and was never returned.
“We want to see what the true numbers are,” Lewis said. “There is so much borrowing back and forth that it got out of control. Nobody ever had any consequences except us – the residents.
LaColla said that the numbers are “legit” and there were no findings of criminal wrongdoing.
Resident RoseAnne Montalbal said that she understands that the town owes Beacon money but said her problem is that it took too long to pay it back. She said that the town should have caught the problem during the first rate increase in January.
“Nothing was said then,” Montalbal said. “These rate increases are really going to be difficult. It’s not the board’s fault or the residents’ fault but the thing is we don’t know if we can afford to pay this increase and live. It’s a lot of money for people to put out, especially based on what is going on across the country with the economy. It’s not just a raise, it’s a spike.”
Resident Chris Kazimir said that the latest rate increase is another example of the government reaching into the taxpayers pocket to pay back what it owes.
“It’s us who are paying it back,” Kazimir said. “We need to become self-sufficient so we don’t have to worry about paying others back.”
Resident Patty Moranski said she moved to Fishkill in 1977. She said that since she’s been living here she has paid her water bill on time and has done everything she was supposed to do but the local government hasn’t been looking out for its residents. Moranski suggested that everybody in every water district pay one price to help lower ones costs.
“Why is it only a Dutchess Park problem?” Moranski asked. “I have no problem paying school taxes even though my children went to private school. It would be so much cheaper if everybody paid a little bit instead of pushing it all on us.”
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