Laws and Legislation - Sewer Rents
Sewer Rent Bill - January 2011
Sewer Rent Code, Chapter 239, Article II, of the Code of the Village of Northport |
Here is some information to help explain the new sewer rent that is being
charged to properties connected to the Village of Northport’s sewer system.
PLEASE NOTE:
The deadline to pay has been extended to June 1st, 2011 without penalty.
The dead line for the appeals form
is March 15, 2011.
Description of Items on the sewer rent bill
"Sewer rent" is a user fee.
In New York State law is a user fee paid by properties serviced by a municipal sewer system. The Village Board of Trustees adopted the code that creates the sewer rent on August 3, 2010 following a public hearing. The Board made a few modifications to the code on January 18, 2011 following another public hearing. This is the first bill being issued under this law.
Sewer Costs will be shared more fairly.
Until this year, all Northport Village property owners, whether they are on the sewer system or must maintain their own cesspool, equally supported the system through property taxes, alone. Now, 25% of the sewer system's cost, approximately $195,300.00, for Fiscal year 2009-10, is being charged as a sewer rent to owners of sewered properties--those who directly benefit from the system. The rent also includes an additional 2.5%, approximately $19,530.00, to cover refunds for granted adjustments. Together these total approximately $214,830.00.
Rent owed is based on water used (the amount of water delivered to a property).
Because the best estimate of what goes out is what comes in, each sewer rent will be based on a property's water use compared to the total water use of all properties connected to our village's sewer system. This helps to achieve fairness among those who are now paying a sewer rent. The Suffolk County Water Authority provides the Village with the measures of water use.
$2.95 per 1,000 gallons.
Each property owner on the Village of Northport’s sewer system is being charged $2.95 per 1,000 gallons of water used but only after any adjustment due is made to that property's measure of water use.
78,150,950 gallons.
This is the total amount of water used by all the non-village government properties on the system for the rent year, as measured by the Suffolk County Water Authority. 72,830,096 gallons is the adjusted total amount after of water used after the automatic residential discount of 10% is deducted from those properties.
One bill covers one year of water use.
The current bill is for twelve consecutive months of water use that extend from mid-2019 to mid-2010. Variation in exact starting and ending dates is due to the fact that The Suffolk County Water Authority does not read all water meters at the same time. However, each property’s water use is based on twelve consecutive months of use.
The Sewer Rent does not replace the water bill.
The sewer rent pays for sewer service, not for water delivery. The Suffolk County Water Authority will still bill for the water it delivers to a property.
The Sewer Rent does not replace the property tax bill.
A portion of everyone’s property tax bill still goes to support the sewer system but that portion that supports the sewer system is 25% less than it would be if there was no sewer rent.
Everybody’s property taxes are lower than they would be without the sewer rent.
Because that portion of the property tax bill that supports the sewer system is 25% less than it would be if there was no sewer rent, every property owner, whether on or off the system, would have had to pay $21.27 more for every $1,000.00 of the tax bill. For example, a property owner whose tax bill was $3,000.00 would have had to pay an additional $63.80 in property taxes.
Automatic adjustment: A discount for all residential properties.
Each residential property's measure of water use is automatically adjusted down by 10% in consideration of water used that does not enter the sewer system, such as lawn watering. For example, if a property owner used 85,000 gallons of water the sewer rent would be $250.75. However, if that property was residential, the amount of gallons used would be discounted by 10% to 76,500 gallons and the rent would be $225.68, a savings of $25.08.
Other adjustments can be applied for.
Any property owner, commercial or residential, may apply to the Northport Village Board of Trustees for an adjustment based on water that does not enter the Village’s sewer system or because the usage amount is incorrect.
Penalty charge of 1.5% per month.
As written on the bill, payment is due by February 28, 2011. A penalty of 1.5% will be added on March 1, 2011, and an additional 1.5% will be added each month thereafter. As with unpaid property taxes, unpaid sewer rents, penalties and interest shall become a lien upon the real property.
The exact sewer rent owed will vary from year to year.
The exact sewer rent owed by a particular property owner will vary from year to year because the parts that make it up will vary. These parts include the total amount to be raised, how much water a property used, and how much water all the properties on the system used.
The next sewer rent to be collected.
The village charges a sewer rent based on one year’s water use. The current bill covers a period that extends from mid-2009 to mid-2010. The next bill will cover a period extending from mid-2010 to mid-2011; it has been issued as the tasks needed to implement this new program have been completed. The next sewer rent bill, that will cover the succeeding twelve-month period--extending from mid-2010 to mid-2011, shall be sent out at the start of October, 2011. All future sewer rent bills shall be sent out at the start of October and cover the twelve-month period that will end just prior to that.
Items On The Bill
(Click for larger image)
1. Account #
Please include this on any correspondence with Village Hall about your sewer rent.
2. Due Date
Any payment after this date will incur a monthly penalty charge. Please see # 16, below.
3. Svc Addr
This is the address of the property receiving the sewer service.
4. Bill #
This is for the Village's use only. It is simply the bill's place in the print order of all the bills.
5. Tax ID#
This is the property's Suffolk County Tax Map ID#. It is composed of three numbers that identify its location within the
Village: Section–Block–Lot . The Village, the Suffolk County Water Authority, and others use this number.
6. Mtr ID
The meters on this bill would be numbered in order when more than one meter is included on one bill. However, in this billing cycle, each bill covers only one meter. The number should be 001 on all bills.
7. Meter Readings In Gallons
The Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) provides these to the Village. They cover one year of water delivered to the property.
8. Previous Date & Reading
This is the date of SCWA's first water meter reading used to compute water usage over one year.
9. Present Date & Reading
This is the date of SCWA's last water meter reading used to compute water usage over one year.
10. Bill Code
This denotes whether the property's account with SCWA has been active during the dates covered by the readings. All bills should show ACT.
11. Usage
The number of gallons of water used (delivered to the property by SCWA) for the period covered by this bill. The Suffolk County Water Authority provides this to the Village.
12. Sewer
The sewer rent based on the usage. This rent represents a charge of $2.95 per 1,000 gallons after all adjustments are made.
13. Total
This should be the same as 12, Sewer because no other type of charge is included in this bill.
14. Previous Balance
This should be $0.00 because this is the first bill.
15. Total Due
This should be the same as 12, Sewer & 13, Total because this is the first bill.
16. Penalty Statement
An immediate penalty of 1.5% followed by monthly penalties of 1.5% per month will be charged for the period of time that a payment is not made by February 28, 2011. Please see # 2, above. As with unpaid property taxes, unpaid sewer rents, penalties and interest shall become a lien upon the real property.