Town, village at odds over Potsdam water

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) — As the Town of Potsdam looks for ways to shave the cost of the Route 56 water project, the town’s supervisor said he’s frustrated.

The project will bring water service to sections of Route 56 in the town. Town officials are hoping it will spur growth.

But it’s an expensive job. $10.5 million.

“Obviously it’s not affordable for the people. I get it. I understand that. My job is to work to get it affordable,” said Marty Miller, town supervisor.

Miller said one way to save $4.5 million of the cost is if the town pipes had village water flowing through them, eliminating the cost of a town water tower. It would also save money on some piping costs. But there’s no agreement with the village to make that happen.

“I can’t even tell you how frustrating it is,” Miller said.

Why isn’t it happening? Potsdam has a village law which requires any property receiving water to be in the village. So the section of Route 56 that would be affected would need to be annexed into the village, a move that would have the town lose property, and property taxes.

The village could change the law, but mayor Alexandra Jacobs-Wilke said she’s yet to hear a good argument to make that happen.

“As you know, we are one of the most lopsided entities in New York State for the amount of tax-exempt property, so our property tax payers are already paying the lopsided share for all the services we offer,” she said.

“And we put them at a competitive disadvantage if we’re then providing a highly desirable service, water and sewer. You could locate a business there and not pay as much in property taxes but benefit,” the mayor said.

Besides, the mayor said, “There’s a serious concern that we are not set up to handle the future load of that large of a district and future development in that section of the community.”

Miller believes this is an area where a town and village can share services.

“Potsdam is Potsdam, period. I don’t care if you live in the village or town. I’m going to tell you 99.9 percent of the people that live on the 56 corridor spend their money in the village of Potsdam,” he said.

Miller said he’ll continue to find ways to cut costs on the project. As it stands, if property owners vote to continue with the project, it’ll cost them $1,400 a year for 30 years. If not, they’re still on the hook for $500 a year for 30 years to pay for design costs already incurred.

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