Cazenovia village residents received a shock recently when they received their sewer bill in the mail and found they owe either more — or maybe less — than their bills have been in years past. People who found a large sewer tax increase are upset and concerned, and do not understand what has happened or why, and are looking for answers. There is no new sewer tax, just a different way of billing sewer fees based on usage and a separate bill sent to residents directly from the Madison County Sewer District and not as part of their county tax bill, said Madison County Sewer District Board Chair Ralph Monforte. “We are now billing on a usage basis. I’d say 75 percent of people will pay the same amount to the county, but now it won’t show up on their county tax bill, which they probably never noticed before, and will be billed separately,” Monforte said. “We billed everyone for the same amount they would get on their county tax bill.” The Madison County Sewer District for years had billed residents of the district based on a predetermined unit basis and not by the amount of sewer usage per home, business or educational institution. Once the New York state tax cap was instituted a few years ago, those sewer unit fees were considered as general property tax revenue and so counted against the county in its tax levy limit calculations. As a result, the county board of supervisors directed the sewer district board to change to a usage based billing system, which would no longer count against the tax levy limit. “It hurt the county tax cap equation and created some tax hardships for the whole county based on that,” Monforte said. The usage-based system is also more fair to all district residents, since they will now only be billed for the amount of sewer services they use. Previously, people who were not even hooked up to the county sewer system were billed a minimum charge, while a family of one paid the same amount in fees as a family of five. There will now be a minimum charge of $284 for all user classifications (residential, church, business, etc.) plus a certain amount of dollars per 100 cubic feet when 6,300 cubic feet per year is exceeded. For example, a resident adds $4.50 per 100 cubic feet while a restaurant adds $2 and a public school adds $9. “It will be more fair, no question about it, but will have its problems on first time out,” Monforte said. One problem is that when village residents started receiving their county sewer bills two weeks ago they were confused by the change and unclear as to why they were being billed by the county and the village for sewer services, especially when they already had paid their village sewer fees for the first quarter. Mayor Kurt Wheeler said the village already has fielded a number of questions regarding changes to sewer billing, and he wants to emphasize that the village’s billing procedures have not changed. “I will let the Madison County Sewer Board address the recent changes to their billing but am happy to clarify the Village’s role in maintaining an effective sanitary sewer system,” Wheeler said. “All residents connected to the system receive two types of sewer bills. The one from the Madison County Sewer District supports the actual treatment plant and the large trunk lines which feed wastewater to the plant. Village residents also pay a small sewer bill twice per year with their water bill. This bill has always been based on water usage (generally, water that flows into your home also flows out) and supports maintenance of the sanitary sewer network within the village that flows into the county’s trunk lines.” Another problem was that when residents received their county tax bills the tax amount was approximately the same as it was the previous year, even though the sewer tax was no longer included. That was because both Madison County and Cazenovia town taxes increased, so the difference was not noticed until residents started receiving a separate sewer bill, Monforte said. When the county sewer district board had its monthly meeting last Tuesday, Jan. 27, many of the members had already heard concerns from local residents, said board member Mike Costello. “We had a lengthy meeting, a good meeting, and we all understood there was definitely confusion. We even had a board member shocked by his bill,” Costello said. “When you change from one billing system to another you’re going to have all kinds of questions, things will come up you didn’t foresee. We are definitely going to address this.” The county sewer board will address this with a grievance day, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, in the town office building at 7 Albany St. The board will mail more information and notices to sewer district residents in the coming weeks. Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].