What is that Sewer Rent Fee?

by Kathy Savolt -

There has been some recent discussion on social media surrounding the Sewer Rent Fee charge that is on everyone’s monthly water bill.  Attempts to figure it out have apparently been fruitless and at the June 9, 2025 meeting of the Board of Trustees (BOT), resident Josh Lanza escalated the discussion.

History

As detailed in a March 14, 2014 memo from then Assistant Manager Dan Sarnoff, and again in a revised version dated April 16, 2015, the Village was anticipating large expenditures to improve the public sanitary sewer system.  See HERE. The problem of inflow and infiltration (I&I) had been identified and the Village was under a Consent Order with New York State to address it.  In addition, Save the Sound later sued the Village for illegal discharge to Long Island Sound and again, the Village was forced to make repairs.

The Village responded to the problem by creating a separate fund – aptly called the Sewer Fund – and instituted a “Sewer Rent Fee” (not aptly named as there is no rent involved) to finance it.  The Village employs fund accounting and creating a Sewer Fund would ensure that the revenue would be used only for the sanitary sewer system.

This fee is based on water usage which was thought to be the fairest way since most of the household water ends up in the sanitary sewer system. 

Sarnoff also cited other communities who also established a sewer fee.

The Numbers

The Sewer Fund is primarily used to pay the debt service (interest and principal) on the bonds issued for the sewer relining and other sanitary sewer work.  The operating expenses of the Sanitary Sewer Department of almost $220,000/year are also covered.  The previous administration also used some of this fund to cover other administrative expenses (see below).

Westchester Joint Water Works, a separate public benefit corporation, collects the fee on behalf of the Village and then remits it to the Village.  The Village determines how and when these funds are spent and it is not unusual for Water Works personnel to not know the details of the funds as it is outside their scope of operations

Each year, the Village Budget details the expenditures from the Sewer Fund.  The Tentative Budget for FY 2025/26 projected total expenses of $1.8 million broken down into $370 thousand for operations, $722 thousand for debt payments on fourteen different serial bonds and a transfer of $708 thousand to the Village’s General Fund.  See HERE, page 226. 

Like the Village’s General Fund, the Sewer Fund is audited every year and reported in the Village’s annual Financial Statement.   See HERE, page 78.  At the end of FY 2024, the Sewer Fund had a balance of almost $710,000.

Previous Administration Raised the Fee – A LOT

Although having a separate Sewer Fund is designed to ensure the funds are used for that purpose, the previous administration managed to convince themselves that over $850,000 in Village administrative salaries were related to the sanitary sewer projects.  That’s one way  they managed to keep the tax rate below the cap by charging these salaries to the Sewer Fund beginning in FY 2023/24.

To pay for these salaries, the BOT increased the Sewer Rent Fee by 90%.  See HERE.

When Village Manager Kathleen Gill discovered this questionable practice, she began to gradually transfer these salaries from the Sewer Fund back to the General Fund.  The FY2025/26 budget plans for over $180,000 to be removed from the Sewer Fund.

Now that these salaries are in the process of being moved out of the Sewer Fund, perhaps the BOT will also look to lower the Sewer Rent Fee.