Village of East Williston Mayor David Tanner said Monday the village will not pay $300,000 in interest and penalties sought by the Village of Williston Park following a recent state Appellate Court decision upholding the second of two water rate increases imposed on East Williston.
Tanner also said East Williston will only pay approximately $250,000 of the $300,000 the Williston Park board is seeking to recover in unpaid fees based on the two increases.
“We will pay what we owe. We will not pay what we consider to be onerous,” Tanner said at a village board meeting Monday night.
The Village of Williston Park, Tanner said, sent East Williston a bill for $600,000 last week based on increases in water rates East Williston refused to pay while pursuing two lawsuits that contested the rate hikes.
“The court did not order us to pay a penalty. We did not have a contract that called for penalties. We’re not going to pay the penalty,” village Trustee Robert Vella Jr. said, calling the penalty “exorbitant.”
The Village of East Williston paid the Village of Williston Park $3.83 per thousand gallons for five months after its neighbor upped its rate from $2.99 per thousand gallons in April 2011, but began paying the old rate after filing the first of two lawsuits in late 2011. East Williston had argued that the rate hike was improper since Williston Park had not held a public hearing prior to imposing the increase.
While the case was still being heard, Williston Park imposed a second rate hike in August 2012, raising the price to $4.33 per thousand gallons.
In July, a state Appellate Court upheld found in favor of East Williston in the first lawsuit, stating that Williston Park should have held a public hearing prior to imposing the first rate increase. But the court found in favor of Williston Park in the second lawsuit, stating that Williston Park was within its right to raise the water rates.
Tanner said after the meeting that East Williston will deduct the increase in payments made over five months in 2011 following the first rate hike from the $300,000 it has been billed.
Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar declined to comment directly on the East Williston trustees’ response, But, he said, the Williston Park board will actively seek to recover the fees it feels it is owed.
“We will seek all monies that are legally owed to us,” Ehrbar said.
Vella suggested the Williston Park board was being vindictive in attempting to impose penalties on top of the unpaid rate increases.
“If they’re going to be retaliatory, they’re going to have to take us to court,” Vella said.
The East Williston board held money in escrow to cover the cost of the rate increase while the two lawsuits were undecided.
“The difference is ready to be paid to them,” Vella said.
Tanner said the board planned to respond to the bill the village received with a payment and a letter explaining its position.
On Monday night, Vella encouraged East Williston residents to complain about the increased rates at the next Williston Park village board meeting
Vella said the East Williston board is also contemplating alternatives to receiving its water from Williston Park.
“We’re working on a solution and will continue to work on a long-term solution,” he said.
East Williston trustees had earlier raised the possibility of Williston Park and East Williston forming a water district, but the suggestion was immediately rejected by Ehrbar.
