ALTAMONT — The village board approved a law that will charge users for new hookups to the village water supply.

At a village board meeting Tuesday, after a brief public hearing period, the board passed the resolution with four votes. Trustee Harvey Vlahos abstained.

Under the law, the village will charge a fee of $2,500 per unit for each new residential unit hooking into the water system. Those already on the system will not be charged.

An apartment will be considered a fraction of a unit, depending on the number of bedrooms it has. A single-family home will be a full unit.

Commercial property owners will be charged by usage, one unit per 200 gallons of water used per day. Fractions will be rounded up to the next whole unit.

The so-called benefit assessment fee is intended to help fund a two-phase $2.5 million improvement project to the water system, pieces of which are over 100 years old.

At a public hearing on the proposal last month, developer Jeff Thomas, who is planning to build homes for seniors along Brandle Road, just outside of the village, said the village’s plan was unfair to seniors. Thomas claimed the improvements his project will add to the water system should make him and his residents exempt from the fees.

On Tuesday, Mayor James Gaughan said he has met with Thomas and they have agreed that the fee is fair. He asked Thomas, who was at Tuesday’s meeting, if he had accurately described their meeting, and Thomas said he had.

Vlahos told The Enterprise that he chose not to vote on the issue because the fee was too high.
"There are some certain circumstances that, when you tie it all together, I think it merits some reduction," he said.

Other business

In other business at the March 7 meeting, the Altamont Village Board:

—Approved a site plan for the Park Street senior housing project proposed by developer Troy Miller. The planning board had already approved the plan, but forwarded it to the village board because Miller asked for permission to build a 100-foot sidewalk in front of the project.

The village board told Miller he could have his sidewalk, but not until after the village makes improvements to Park Street in its comprehensive planning process;

—Authorized the destruction of several village records held past the required six years. The village historian will be allowed to look at the records for possible preservation before they are destroyed; and

—Passed resolutions to hold a budget workshop at Village Hall on March 21 at 6:30 p.m., an organizational meeting on April 4 at 7:30 p.m., and a budget public hearing on April 4 at 8 p.m.