Residents protest cost of water hookup

As construction of Hounsfield's Water District 3 nears completion, some town residents are asking why their homes aren't slated for hookups even though a water line runs right by their property.

Three homeowners along County Route 75 are within Sackets Harbor village boundaries but have not been included in its water districts because of their distance from other village homes. So when Hounsfield started developing plans for its Water District 3, which would send a water main from a village water tower to town customers via County Route 75, those residents were happy to hear town officials intended to include hookups for their homes in the project.

But now, those homeowners are being told, "'Hey, cut me a check,'" said Dennis C. Marcello, who, along with members of other households that want to tap into the water line, turned up seeking answers at Wednesday's Town Council meeting.

"They want me to pay about $4,000 when my neighbors are paying nothing," said Mr. Marcello, 337 County Route 75. He and the other homeowners received letters from the town saying that if they chose to hook up to the line, they would be charged the same $500 curbside hookup fee all water district customers have to pay, plus $1,600 in digging costs and about $1,500 for the construction of a line from the curbside to the house.

That upfront cost was a burden the homeowners weren't expecting, Mr. Marcello said Thursday.

Gregory W. Marselis, 417 County Route 75, voiced the same complaint at the meeting. There are two other houses on the road in the same situation, one unoccupied.

Although the village residents of County Route 75 were never a formal part of the planned town Water District 3, they contend they were promised inclusion when the project was initiated.

Councilman Stephen H. Lee, who was supervisor when the application for the project was submitted for funding in 2003, said "the plan was to somehow get them hooked up," possibly by having the town highway department do the work.

The town planned to do the same for Henderson residents along Ridge Road, he said, where the town boundary cuts through the center of the street, along with a water line. That also would require an agreement with the town of Henderson.

But Supervisor Martin A. DelSignore said the rules and regulations of the funding agencies for the project prohibit these kinds of additions across municipal lines without a formal outside user agreement.

At the meeting, town engineer Kris D. Dimmick, vice president of Bernier, Carr and Associates, Watertown, suggested a way County Route 75 village residents might be included in the water district without high upfront costs.

The town has requested and received permission from the state funding agency to use leftover money from the water project to help the village replace its aging water tower, and the property owners might be added to that project.