Town of Hounsfield and Village of Sackets Harbor at odds on water deal

Town of Hounsfield officials were not confident Tuesday night that a deal could be made with the village of Sackets Harbor to purchase water for the town’s Water District 5.

While this uncertainty is a continuation of months of conflict in the negotiating process between the two municipalities, town officials now face a quickly approaching deadline to get something finalized.

“We’re in the twelfth hour,” Hounsfield Councilman Stephen H. Lee said. “We need to move forward.”

Town officials have until Dec. 7 to find and secure at least a 30-year partnership for supplying water to its Water District 5, also known as the Airport Project. Without one, the town faces the loss of grant and loan funding that town officials have valued at more than $650,000, and the risk of doing considerable damage to a project estimated to be worth $4.8 million.

“In order to be paid in full for the project, the project has to happen,” Mr. Lee said.

The lingering debate on which municipality would supply the town’s Water District 5 has overshadowed the fact that it is in effect a backup water source. Village engineer Kris D. Dimmick of Bernier, Carr & Associates, Watertown, said at the public hearing that wells purchased by the town could supply more than twice the current needs of the district. As a result, the acceptance of a water agreement would be mostly to satisfy the terms set by the lending company and federal regulators.

With the potential for millions in losses, Mr. Lee presented two options Tuesday: either take a standing Intermunicipal Water Agreement approved by the city of Watertown, or attempt to make a last-minute deal with the village.

The village’s water is cheaper than the city’s, at a rate of $4 per thousand gallons for the village’s water, with improvement costs added in, compared with more than $5.50 for the city’s water in the first year. Also holding back a deal between the town and village is a dispute over control of the water supply. Sackets Harbor Mayor F. Eric Constance said the town demands 30 percent of the village’s water treatment facility’s future capacity.

“As long as it stays on that, the village says no,” Mr. Constance said. On the other side, Mr. Scee said the village is requiring payment of $110,000 at the start of the deal, along with about a third of the costs of maintaining and upgrading the village’s water facility. With several million dollars worth of future repairs looming for the facility, Mr. Scee said the town “couldn’t sell the farm just to make a deal.”

The town’s next monthly meeting is scheduled for Dec. 14, after the deadline set to formalize the long-term water agreement. With time running low, Mr. Scee said he would most likely organize a special meeting in the next week to review and take a vote on the city’s proposed agreement.

“It’s too important to fade away,” Mr. Scee said.