Herkimer Water Bill Dispute

HERKIMER, N.Y. — Tenants of 360 Protection Ave. and 229 Harter St., in Herkimer, shared water shutoff notices with NEWSChannel 2 Friday.

They warn that water will be shut off July 28, because the Herkimer Housing Authority hasn’t paid a few of their bills.

The head of the housing authority doesn’t dispute this. But he does dispute the bills.

“We normally would receive a $4000 bill for one of the properties,” said Housing Authority Executive Director, Richard Dowe.

“We got a bill for $28,000. Show us where it is.” 

The Herkimer Village Attorney, Vincent Rossi Jr., stated leaky toilets, and a faulty meter at the Protection Ave. property are to blame.

“Housing Authority replaced the meter. The old meter was underreading the consumption,” said Rossi.

And on Harter St.? A measuring issue.

“The village made a mistake in that the device that they were using to measure water was misreading the water consumption by a factor of 10, so 10 gallons of water use was registered as one, so that was corrected,” said Rossi.

“It was set on the basis that the pipe going into the meter was 3/4 inch. It was actually 1/2 inch.”

The head of the housing authority says that they have the money to pay, just not to overpay.

“If we owe it, we’ll pay it,” said Dowe.

“We just are not able to get that requested sit down that we asked for.”

Maybe not a sit-down, but the village attorney says information was given.

“Because I wanted to be sure we follow the rules exactly, I sent this certified letter return receipt on June 18, I also emailed it to the housing authority saying these accounts are accurate. You need to pay these bills,” said Rossi.

Right before the summer of 2024 water bill disputes, the New York State Comptroller’s Office revisited the village, to gauge progress in their water and sewer financial operations, based on seven recommendations the Comptroller’s Office made in 2019.

They found the village had only partially implemented one.