Board approves measure to fine Empire Farm Brewery for wastewater discharge violations
By Jason Emerson
The Cazenovia town board continued its work on the 2019 town budget this week by approving a law to override the state tax levy cap and officially accepting the tentative budget from the supervisor and adopting it as the preliminary budget.
The current draft of the document shows a relatively flat tax rate from the previous year, said town Supervisor and budget officer Bill Zupan. “I’m pretty happy about that,” he said during the board’s Oct. 1 regular monthly meeting.
The $3.1 million preliminary budget includes $1 million to be raised by taxes, a town tax rate of $1.44 per $1,000 of assessed value for town residents who live outside the village, and $1.31 per $1,000 of assessed value townwide. The only different in tax rates from 2018 to 2019 is the decrease of about two cents in the townwide tax rate.
This budget is preliminary and subject to further possible changes by the town board before a final vote to approve later in the year.
The board previously held a budget work session on Sept. 26, and has scheduled a second budget work session for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16 in the town office, which is open to the public.
A public hearing to comment on the preliminary budget is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5 in the town office, during the board’s regular monthly meeting.
The budget will be available for public viewing at the town office and on the town website at townofcazenovia.org.
Also at the meeting, the board unanimously voted to execute an enforcement action against Empire Farm Brewery for “numerous violations” of its wastewater discharge permit. Zupan said the brewery has had issues monitoring the amount of flow it sends to the wastewater treatment plant, and has had “major problems” in its pH levels. The pH of water is a measure of its acidity and is an important part of a wastewater treatment system as it allows dissolved waste to be separated from water during the treatment process.
The Empire Farm Brewery has had issues with its wastewater output for the past two years, Zupan said, and this enforcement action “will make them fix those problems.”
Empire has 60 days to comply with the enforcement action, after which, if the problems go unresolved they will be fined by the town, Zupan said. The supervisor would not say how much the fine would be, but said that if the problems are fixed then the fine will be zero.
Empire Farm Brewery owner David Katleski said he was unaware there was a problem requiring such action by the town but said they would “do everything in our power to work with the town and be in compliance with however we might remedy the situation.”
Katleski said Empire has been working closely with the town on wastewater issues and will continue to do so to “remediate any problems or issue that may result by our operation.”
