NEW SCOTLAND — Supervisor Thomas Dolin said this week that New Scotland and Bethlehem have a long-time understanding regarding water supply contracts, and said that recent suggestions that New Scotland might take legal action against Bethlehem were misconstrued.

Dolin also said that New Scotland and Guilderland are discussing the purchase of water for homes along the Guilderland border near Wormer and Johnston roads by the Weatherfield housing development.

Heldervale

“We have no intention of suing the town of Bethlehem,” Dolin told The Enterprise last week after another news outlet reported on a town board meeting. “We have a 50-year relationship with Bethlehem in the Heldervale [water] district, and it’s been very positive and beneficial to the residents. The discussion was not negative.”

Heldervale residents recently expressed concern with a lag time by the town in setting a meeting to discuss water rates they say are too expensive; New Scotland users in this area pay twice the rate of Bethlehem town users.

The subject came to the fore when the Creekside housing development outside the hamlet of New Scotland neared completion of its application to put in up to 20 water and sewer taps off the Heldervale system in Slingerlands.

In September, the New Scotland board discussed its water-rate agreement with Bethlehem, with a consensus that the contract between the towns allows Bethlehem to charge up to two times the in-district rate.

“The rate arrangement is the same for 50 years,” Dolin told The Enterprise last week. He said that the town has the same agreement with the village of Voorheesville for water in the Country Club Estates subdivision.

The town will hold a meeting on Dec. 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. for Slingerlands residents to discuss their rates with the board, Dolin said.

He stressed that New Scotland has no friction with the town of Bethlehem.

“We enjoy a good relationship and we want it to continue,” Dolin said. “They were a valuable partner in the creation of the New Salem water district.”

Bethlehem’s water reservoir is in New Scotland near New Salem — a hamlet that had water quantity and quality issues with personal wells for years. This autumn, the town is completing a $3 million project to provide municipal water to New Salem from the reservoir.

“We appreciate how they participated in that,” Dolin said of Bethlehem. “They provide the water, and we provide the distribution center.”

Weatherfield

“The Weatherfield district is looking at expansion,” Dolin said.

Calling a potential Weatherfield water extension a supervisors’ joint project, Dolin said he discussed with Guilderland Supervisor Kenneth Runion the possibility of having water provided to homes on Wormer and Johnston roads, in New Scotland, during the project.

“There’s a hydrology study that’s being conducted to determine what would be needed in that area,” Runion told The Enterprise. The study is being paid for by the Albany Country Club subdivision, and the towns of New Scotland and Guilderland, he said.

“The current system that serves Weatherfield is maxed out,” Runion said. “There is water and sewer there. The sewer is fine. It’s the water system that is maxed out.”

Runion said that the water system is not expiring, rather, “We’ve hit the maximum number of customers that can go on the system. For the future, it should be upgraded.”

The original water system was put in when the development was built in the 1980s, he said.

“It was a good time for the three entities to look to enhance that system,” Runion said.

The proposed water district expansion would include the construction of a water tower, Dolin said.

Dolin said that the retirement of both Dolin and Runion in December would not affect decisions made about water, and he noted that the towns have not made final decisions about an extension.
“We’re just asking if we could be considered,” Dolin said.