Residents protest Aqua Water rate hike

Nearly 200 people filled the Merrick Library for the first of two public hearings on Sept. 1 to speak out against a proposed 12 percent rate hike for Aqua New York Water Service. A second hearing was held in the evening at Brookside School and was also well attended, according to reports.

The rate hike proposal angered the many residents from Bellmore, Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford, Levittown and Massapequa who have no alternative water provider and reportedly pay more than neighboring communities in the Town of Hempstead that are part of municipal water districts.

Hearings were held to give residents a chance to be heard by an impartial moderator charged with evaluating public comments and making recommendations to the New York Public Service Commission, which will either grant or deny Aqua's request next January.

According to Gerald Lynch, the administrative law judge who moderated the session, Aqua proposed the hike to fill a request for $3.5 million in additional revenues to cover increased property taxes, operation and maintenance expenses, and capital costs associated with a new plant, which would have resulted in an annual rate hike of nearly 16 percent for the average user. A panel of professionals assigned by the PSC to evaluate the proposal found $1 million to be a more appropriate number, and Aqua New York Water Service countered with a request for $2.5 million, which would result in the 12 percent rate hike, if adopted.

Copies of Aqua's request are available at libraries in Bellmore, Merrick, Massapequa and Wantagh.

No one from Aqua made comments at the hearing, but Aqua New York Water President Matt Snyder, a Merrick resident, said in a separate interview that Aqua New York Water is projecting an almost $2 million increase in property taxes this year, a fee that accounts for nearly 40 percent of Aqua's operating costs and gets billed back to customers in their water bills. Also raising rates is the need to cover $15 million worth of capital improvements to the system, including new iron filtration systems, water lines, water mains and other upgrades. He said it is the first rate increase proposed by Aqua New York Water since 2004.